OUR FOREFATHERS’ COVENANTS, Part 1
December 13, 2019
Good Morning, Good
Morning, Good Morning!
After weeks of making
reference to this series which deals with the foundations of our nation, we're
actually going to begin with it today.
You will see, as this
series unfolds, that every single one of the 50 states in our union recognizes
that their existence, as a body politick, flows from God. The rejection of this principle by modern
politicians is a huge contributing factor in the chaos which has unfolded since
prayer was removed from public schools, and gradually from public discourse.
The acceptance, and
even injection, of such things as “Shariah Law” in certain places is a
violation of our nation’s foundations, not to mention the Constitution that our
forefathers created, lived and died for.
What our politicians have refused to recognize or understand is the fact
that Islam is not a religion: it is a political philosophy with world
domination at its underpinnings, using religion as an excuse for its philosophy.
Let’s not go there
today. Instead, let’s get on with our
discussion concerning America’s foundations.
From the
earliest days of our nation's founding fathers, people came to these shores to
escape religious persecution and to create an environment in which there would
be the freedom to worship God -- and quite specifically, the Lord Jesus Christ
-- according to the dictates of each person's heart.
No other
nation on earth has such foundations. America, as a result, has prospered
like no other nation on earth. America has seen and experienced the
blessings of the Lord in a dimension that has made it the envy of virtually
every nation on earth. It is in this nation that creativity has
blossomed, inventions have sprung up and industry has taken hold creating an
economic backbone which provides the lowest rate of unemployment anywhere in
the world.
There are
reasons for this. And those reasons are the theme of this series: The
American Covenant. We've spent weeks discussing the meaning and significance
of covenant, and how different our contemporary understanding of this word
is. The whole concept of covenant has been pretty much lost in our modern
society. We use the word loosely to apply to marriage without a real
understanding of how deep it goes, and lawyers and legal experts today bandy
the word about, but with little reference as to the significance of covenant.
Quickly
restated, a covenant is a life and death agreement between two or more parties
in which the parties give themselves wholly to the performance of that to which
they agree, with the pain of death as the consequence for failure. On the
other hand, the blessing that comes with that covenant is its end
purpose. The parties thereto committed themselves, their families and all
of their resources to the fulfilling and achieving of the covenant ends.
That said,
when those early pilgrims made their decision to board the Mayflower and sail
to an unknown land, they all knew they were taking their lives in their
hands. The objective to have a land in which they could worship without
the persecution of the Anglican Church was an objective fraught with every
conceivable danger. Yet to these would-be colonists, the ends more than
justified the risks.
If they
succeeded, they would have a place where they would be free to worship the Lord
Jesus Christ without someone looking over their shoulder and dictating their
doctrines, their methods of worship or anything else. Their relationship
to the Lord, and their growth spiritually -- they felt -- hung in the
balance. 102 people representing some 40 families with different church
backgrounds came together in 1620, boarding a boat, the Mayflower, more suited
to a museum than being a seaworthy vessel.
It came
about, therefore, that on November 11, 1620, upon landing on American shores,
40 heads of families gathered together at Cape Cod and signed the following
document:
|
Mayflower Compact 1620 Agreement Between
the Settlers at New Plymouth: 1620 IN
WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the
eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of
England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the
fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620. |
|||
|
Mr. John Carver |
John Craxton |
Digery Priest |
Thomas Rogers |
You'll
notice the phrase in which they say, "[we] solemnly and mutually, in
the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together
into a civil body politick..." Think these folks
understood the meaning of covenant? Better believe it!
Just a few
years later, an English church leader by the name of Roger Williams became
linked to the Puritan movement advocating separation from the episcopal form of
hierarchical government and embracing instead the direct involvement of
congregations or bodies of believers in the choice of their leaders and those
tenets of faith which they all agreed to.
The
Puritan movement was deeply persecuted and hated by the traditional leadership
of the Church of England, and by all those who advocated hierarchical church
government since their movement rendered hierarchical offices as both
non-Scriptural and non-essential to the body of Christ.
Although
Roger Williams was a Calvinist by teaching and upbringing (and one of John
Calvin's teachings held that the state was subject to the church) he migrated
to the Massachusetts Colony in 1631, eleven years after the Mayflower colonists
had arrived, with the objective of finding a place where the persecuted
Puritans could migrate and worship the Lord as they pleased.
He soon
ran afoul of the Massachusetts Bay Colony leaders when he declared that they
had neither right nor authority to impose uniform faith and worship among the
colonists. He further denied the right of the Massachusetts General Court
to punish religious infractions.
In 1634, just
four years after arriving on American shores, Roger Williams found himself
banished by the Massachusetts General Court and facing a deportation order back
to England. He escaped and lived among the Narragansett Indians, learning
their language, gaining their friendship and trust, and in 1636 purchasing a
sizeable piece of land from them for the purpose of establishing both the city
of Providence and the colony of Rhode Island.
Providence
gained its name from Williams' declaration of thanksgiving to the Lord,
"for God's merciful providence unto me in my distress." Despite
his indoctrination and personal leanings as a leader in the body of Christ,
Roger Williams had arrived at the conclusion that the government of the colony
must be established upon a foundation of tolerance for religious differences in
the way people worshiped the Lord God, and complete separation between civil
government and that of the various churches.
This
policy enabled the Society of Friends (Quakers) to escape the bigotry that had
surrounded their existence in Massachusetts Bay Colony, along with the very
first Baptists who made the fledgling Rhode Island Colony their home base in
the New World.
In 1639,
Roger Williams was baptized by immersion and named pastor of the first Baptist
church in America. Less than a year later, he chose to withdraw from his
association with the Baptists, calling himself instead "a Seeker"
(one who continues to seek after more truth in the Gospel) rather than allying
himself with a specific set of doctrines and tenets.
What makes
Roger Williams stand out in our nation's history and founding is the fact that
his 1651 charter of rights for Rhode Island became the basis for the first
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Thomas
Jefferson's famous (and horribly misused and applied by the FDR Supreme Court)
comment to the Danbury Baptist Association, "I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that
their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation
between Church & State" was drawn from the model
established by Roger Williams.
I guess I never cease to be amazed at the number of Christians -- even in these politically turbulent times -- whose ignorance of this nation's foundations and Jesus' command (in the parable of the ten pounds or talents -- see Luke 19:13) to "Occupy till I come" holds them captive to a doctrine of demons that says that Christians have no business in politics, or the affairs of government.
Before I
continue, let's take a look at that command from the Lord and see what He
actually was saying.
That word
"occupy" comes from a translation of the Greek, ðñáãìáôåýïìáé pragmateuomai: which is derived
from ðñOãìá pragma, which in turn is
drawn from
ðñÜóóù prasso. Each
of these words draws a picture.
That root
word, prasso, has
several applications: to perform repeatedly, to execute and accomplish
(business transactions); and more specifically, to collect (such as dues or
fees), to exact or require (rules or order).
Pragma, therefore,
represents the doing of business, conducting the affairs (of the people), being
involved in material matters. Thayer's Greek Lexicon tells us that this
word is often used throughout the NT in a forensic or legal sense, dealing with
matters of law.
It's
derivative, pragmateuomai, (J. H. Thayer tells us) means literally to
carry on the business of trading and banking. No set of words better
illustrates the picture of politics (Microsoft's Encarta tells us that this
word means "the processes by which people and institutions exercise or
resist power.")
[Sorry to
get so technical with you in explaining the Greek, but we absolutely have to
understand our responsibilities as believers when it comes to government.]
Taken to
their logical extension, it is impossible to separate matters of government
from what Jesus commanded. Jesus wasn't simply instructing His followers
to engage in trade with one another, He was instructing them to literally
become the governing force in society, to be the bankers, the businessmen (and
women), those who established the rules of society, those who established the
rules by which society could function and engage in commerce.
OCCUPY!
Next week,
we'll pick up from this point and in the days to come take a systematic look at
the progression of increasing religious liberty that ultimately became the
backbone by which our nation's Constitution was formed.
Faith puts us on an operational basis with
God, and gives us the ability to function in concert with Him.
In case you are
missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday
worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:30AM
Pacific. That conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code
is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings available on
video using ZOOM. If you wish to
participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513. If you miss the live voice-only call, you can
dial (712)
770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later. The video call, of course, is not recorded –
not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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