tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8929723456111347922024-02-20T22:39:24.460-06:00Lamp of HistoryDrawing insight from our past to inform our lives today.J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-36059733522507037182012-11-01T08:44:00.000-05:002012-11-01T08:44:04.844-05:00American Politics: A History of Invective, Chicanery, and No-holds-barred Mudslinging<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYjUrmQUlTeJdyKWBoAKY7DlQvyy3t8uQUUeMzDEWX29_mekxo7v-UUtDqfKqZgVju-z3dyZl42wfAacMOmw1oFwIT9G-iqc5Czela3VStTVSIzupRpvXHbSR_MXoYJMGqKEzoI-TPR76k/s1600/Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774)_-_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYjUrmQUlTeJdyKWBoAKY7DlQvyy3t8uQUUeMzDEWX29_mekxo7v-UUtDqfKqZgVju-z3dyZl42wfAacMOmw1oFwIT9G-iqc5Czela3VStTVSIzupRpvXHbSR_MXoYJMGqKEzoI-TPR76k/s320/Philip_Dawe_(attributed),_The_Bostonians_Paying_the_Excise-man,_or_Tarring_and_Feathering_(1774)_-_02.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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Every presidential campaign season I ruminate on the history
of American politics, and since we’re coming down to the wire in the current race,
I thought this would be a timely—and lively—topic for discussion. We hear a lot
of complaints about personal attack ads and dirty tricks, including from the
politicians who are guilty of using them. But you don’t have to do much digging
to discover that political chicanery is a time-honored American tradition that
has been exercised with glee since America was still a collection of British
colonies on the course toward revolution. So let’s take a quick tour of some of
the more egregious examples from our nation’s history.</div>
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Political parties didn’t exist in this country until we were
well on the way to revolution. At that point, the division between those who
supported the British and those who opposed them spawned the Loyalists, or
Tories, and the Patriots, or Whigs. There was no such thing as neutrality
between the two points of view. Anyone who didn’t support one side was
automatically consigned to the opposition. Where Patriots held sway, mobs often
forced Loyalists out of their homes, denying them legal counsel and trial. Loyalists
might be jailed, have their property confiscated, their citizenship revoked,
and even be exiled. Where Loyalists held power, Patriots suffered similar treatment.
At times someone of the wrong political persuasion was even tarred and
feathered and run out of town on a rail. </div>
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Mobs played a big part in colonial politics, particularly in
Boston, where <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Warren" target="_blank">Dr. Joseph Warren</a> helped to refine mob rule into an art form. But
mobs were a force to be reckoned with throughout the colonies. In June 1775, one
placed the home of New Hampshire’s last royal governor, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wentworth_(governor)" target="_blank">John Wentworth</a>, under
siege, demanding he turn over his guest, John Fenton, who had urged acceptance
of the latest British proposals to avert the crisis. When Fenton understandably
refused to comply, the crowd wheeled a cannon in front of the mansion and beat
on the walls with clubs until the hapless offender finally gave himself up. Fearing
for his and his family’s safety, that night the governor fled with his wife and
young child to the fort in Portsmouth harbor, ending decades of British rule in
that colony. Nothing like the direct approach to changing your government!</div>
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From America's earliest days as a democracy, name-calling
and character assassination has been a highly popular tactic, such as when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett">DavyCrockett</a> accused <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Van_Buren" target="_blank">Martin Van Buren</a> of secretly wearing women’s corsets. In 1828,
when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams" target="_blank">John Quincy Adams</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson" target="_blank">Andrew Jackson</a> vied for president, Jackson’s
campaign nicknamed Adams The Pimp, based on a rumor that as the American ambassador
to Russia he had forced a young woman into an affair with a Russian nobleman. Adams’
supporters responded by circulating a pamphlet claiming that Jackson's mother had
been a prostitute brought to this country by British soldiers, and that Jackson
was the offspring of her marriage to a mulatto!</div>
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The name-calling in the 1800 presidential election between
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson" target="_blank">Thomas Jefferson</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams" target="_blank">John Adams</a>, however, takes the prize for no-holds-barred
mudslinging. Some of the charges and counter-charges are cited in this hilarious
YouTube video. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Drl8fpWTKo&feature=related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Drl8fpWTKo&feature=related</a>.
And you thought our modern politics is outrageous!</div>
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In 1840, American politician Thomas Elder wrote to a friend
that “Passion and prejudice properly aroused and directed do about as well as
principle and reason in any party contest.” Every campaign season we see the
proof of that claim!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cross posted from the Colonial Quills blog.</span></div>
J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-27759344083724372772012-02-01T16:28:00.000-06:002012-02-01T16:41:45.426-06:00A New American Revolution<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYFfHjEMwz9KA2nE5tYaYN4h0nf2w0hyNkTjLzhnYgW-NLGBNBRqyXLA9afM-QyJwA10xXHDXzaJymYnWi1Zt4Q2_XIEs-IR4RXiwesKXYWfBel4FuDZtyBTHi5b3PVYje9WuF7QLV7Eh6/s1600/Patrick+Henry+Delivering+His+Speech+Against++the+Stamp+Act-rotherm2%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYFfHjEMwz9KA2nE5tYaYN4h0nf2w0hyNkTjLzhnYgW-NLGBNBRqyXLA9afM-QyJwA10xXHDXzaJymYnWi1Zt4Q2_XIEs-IR4RXiwesKXYWfBel4FuDZtyBTHi5b3PVYje9WuF7QLV7Eh6/s320/Patrick+Henry+Delivering+His+Speech+Against++the+Stamp+Act-rotherm2%5B1%5D.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patrick Henry Protesting Stamp Act</td></tr>
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You know . . . I now fully understand how our Founders felt
when they were dealing with the unfair taxation, restriction of trade, and
violation of personal rights, privacy, and property George III imposed on them.
As a small business owner who’s simply trying to stay afloat when the money
coming in isn’t equal to the expenses going out and I find myself negatively
impacted every single day by the failed policies of a government I’m increasingly
coming to view as the enemy, I’m on the verge of agitating for a new American
Revolution.</div>
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Seriously. </div>
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I’m not smiling.<br />
<br />
Excuse me if I sound
just a bit radical, but it seems like every other month I get a notice from my
friendly state revenue office or county assessor demanding yet another report,
with corresponding tax assessment and bill. Another arrived today, one that
somehow I’ve never received before and am apparently delinquent in. Don’t know
how I passed under their radar scope—it wasn’t intentional; I didn’t know this
one existed—but they’ve found me now. Every time I turn around there’s more tax
paperwork and another bill. But as they point out, your tax preparer or
accountant will have the info. Yeah, and I have to pay him to figure it up.</div>
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What makes it worse and lit the tinder to this tirade is
that at this time of year I’m slogging through the process of putting together
everything needed to file my taxes. I just finished figuring up and sending out
the 1099s, which have to be mailed by January 31. I have to pay for the forms
and envelopes and do all this work to help the government tax anyone and
everyone I ever employed in any capacity whatsoever. And then I have to pay my
accountant to filter through all the paperwork, crunch all the numbers, and determine
what I owe the government or, if I’m lucky—or unlucky, since it means I had a
loss—what the government owes me. The amount of time and money we Americans
spend working for “our” federal, state, and local governments, only to then pay
for the privilege, is enraging. </div>
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I could be investing all that time and money in growing my
business. And putting a few people to work. Multiply that by all the other
businesses in this country, most of which have whole departments dedicated to
handling the taxes necessary to maintain this bloated superstructure we call
the U.S. Government. </div>
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That’s just wrong.</div>
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The form I received today is the “Tangible Personal Property
Schedule for Reporting Commercial and Industrial Personal Property (with “Due
March 1” in big, bold red letters at the top). I’m advised that:</div>
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“In accordance with <u>state guidelines</u> [their emphasis]
and in an effort to comply with <b>a recent
federal court ruling</b> [my emphasis], we must request the following
information regarding your business personal property. [Business personal
property??? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms?] Please submit a depreciations
schedule/current fixed asset listing or small business item listing. See <b>brief
</b>definition below.”</div>
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There follows a whole page. Plus another legal-sized page
printed front and back with instructions. What I’m thinking isn’t fit to print.</div>
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For my business license—which the previous county clerk told
me I didn’t need, but the current county clerk decided I did and fined me for
being in arrears—just figuring out what category a publishing house belongs to
was mind boggling. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.</div>
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Here are the instructions on this form.</div>
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“Report all personal property owned by you and used or held
for use in your business or profession as of January 1, including items fully
depreciated on your accounting records. Do not report inventories of
merchandise held for sale or exchange or finished goods in the hands of the
manufacturer. Personal property leased or rented and used in your business must
be reported on Part III of this schedule and not in this section. A separate
schedule should be filed for each business location. List the total original
cost to you for each group below by year acquired in the REVISED COST column.
If COST ON FILE is printed on the schedule, you need only report new cost totals
resulting from acquisition or disposition of property in the REVISED COST
column. Alternative Reporting for Small Accounts—If you believe the depreciated
value of your property is $1,000 or less you may use the small accounts
certification (reverse side) as an alternative to reporting detail costs below.
With this certification, <b>subject to
audit</b> [my emphasis], your assessment per this schedule will be set at
$300.”</div>
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Did you understand that? You have to supply an itemized list
of everything you own that you ever use for business, down to the paperclips
and staples, so they can tax you on it. And I already paid almost 10% sales tax
on all of it!!</div>
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This includes: “Group 1. furniture, fixtures, general
equipment, and all other property not listed in another group. Group 2:
computers, copiers, peripherals, fax machines, and tools. Group 3: molds, dies,
and jigs. Group 4: aircraft, towers, and boats. Group 5: manufacturing
machinery. Group 6: billboards, tanks, and pipelines. Group 7: scrap property.
[Oh, they don’t actually tax you on that, but you have to report it anyway!]
Group 8: raw materials and supplies. Group 9: vehicles. Group 10: construction
in process.” Nicely: “If your personal vehicle is being used for business less
than 50%, please note that on the schedule and do not report it.” Huh??? Ah . .
. how do you report something without actually reporting it? Sorry. I’m an
editor . . . </div>
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Now, you can get around doing an itemized list if you file
the small accounts certification. But what do you bet the odds are that they’ll
audit you? Plus you have to check the box that verifies: “By checking the box
at left, I certify that the total depreciated value of my property (all groups)
is $1,000 or less. I understand this certification is subject to penalties for
perjury and I may be subject to statutory penalty and cost if this
certification is proven false.” <b>Proven
false.</b> Nothing said about making an honest mistake. Irrelevant anyway since
you’d be ahead of the game to ignore this option and invest the time and effort
up front to inventory everything you own in order to make sure you didn’t miss
something they might penalize you for.</div>
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<i>Can you believe this???</i>
George III had NOTHING on the U.S. Government. Our Founders must be turning
over in their graves. Believe me, I’ve studied the truly objectionable British
policies that finally drove our Founders over the edge, and we would have been
better off just goin’ with it. Whatever. They’re 3,000 miles away across the
ocean. What can they really do? Give ’em their pound of flesh, make an
appearance of compliance, do what you gotta do . . . and then go on about your
business. What they don’t know won’t bite ya. </div>
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Don’t get me wrong. I don’t object to paying for essential
government services. In fact, I’m glad to. Our lives are a whole lot better for
police and fire protection, good roads, schools, communications systems, and
many other real benefits our tax dollars provide. But things have gotten
waaaayyyy out of hand. I want value for my money. I don’t want it to go into
somebody’s pocket under the table or to pay for a bloated government
bureaucracy that stifles incentive and growth and drags people down instead of
lifting them up.</div>
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What bothers me the most is that a whole lot of precious
blood was shed during the Revolution, and we’re in a worse situation now than our
ancestors even envisioned then. Our government makes British rule in the 18<sup>th</sup>
century look like an amateur act. And they’re right here in our laps! You can
run, but ya can’t hide. </div>
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Well, honey, we can sure vote ’em out and keep on doing it
until the representatives we put in Congress and the Oval Office sit up and
take notice and begin doing what we elected them to do instead of taking
advantage of their positions to line their own nests and/or advance agendas the
majority of us don’t agree with. </div>
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It’s past time for a new day to dawn. I don’t know
about you, but TEA Party, here I come!<br />
<br />
Leave a comment and let me know what you think! Let’s talk!J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-91543121234335263322011-02-26T19:58:00.004-06:002011-02-26T20:25:25.899-06:00The Faith of Our Founders<div align="left">For those who doubt the faith of our founding generation and the importance of Christianity to our national welfare, I offer the following quotations. It seems to me that they are more relevant today than ever.<br /><br />“Since private and publick Vices, are in Reality, though not always apparently, so nearly connected, of how much Importance, how necessary is it, that the utmost Pains be taken by the Publick, to have the Principles of Virtue early inculcated on the Minds even of children, and the moral Sense kept alive, and that the wise institutions of our Ancestors for these great Purposes be encouraged by the Government. For no people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” </div><div align="right">—Samuel Adams, 1775</div><div align="left"><br />“The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. . . . The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity. . . . It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.” </div><div align="right">—George Washington<br /><br /></div><div align="left">“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” Shortly before his death, he wrote, “Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence.”</div><div align="right">—Thomas Jefferson<br /><br /></div><div align="left">“The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it.”</div><div align="right">—James Madison</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-X4dlaO5400VcA9uQZSfCOj_84bUShWMwlT8DeGLcbr2B1lfpi7S-8DW9P-bHRm_SUu6C0WhkepGsETd_zVqAJ_GXQoGuOhV1inih3YYwDiqzDEUoUMxP3XSy7u0bw2qKkhPkAgA3CX_b/s1600/John-Adams%255B1%255D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578183664415483394" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 280px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-X4dlaO5400VcA9uQZSfCOj_84bUShWMwlT8DeGLcbr2B1lfpi7S-8DW9P-bHRm_SUu6C0WhkepGsETd_zVqAJ_GXQoGuOhV1inih3YYwDiqzDEUoUMxP3XSy7u0bw2qKkhPkAgA3CX_b/s320/John-Adams%255B1%255D.jpg" border="0" /></a>“It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.” </div><div align="right">—John Adams</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.” </div><div align="right">—John Jay</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">“It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape.” </div><div align="right">—Justice Joseph Story</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">“In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resources in peace and war.” </div><div align="right">—Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, on signing the bill that added</div><div align="right">the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance</div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-28079585789371421982010-07-28T17:30:00.001-05:002010-07-28T17:30:44.117-05:00Sad to Say . . .Because of the amount of spam comments I’m getting on all my blogs, I’m reactivating comment moderation. That means your comments won’t appear until I have time to go in and approve them. Just another little task to add to my day.<br /><br />The problem nowadays is Asian-language comments. If I can’t read the language, then I have no way of knowing what’s being said, and it more than likely isn’t nice. I figure if you can read my blogs, which are in English, then you’re capable of making comments in English. And if you don’t want to do that, then you’re not going to be allowed to add a comment at all.<br /><br />As usual, all we good folks are going to be inconvenienced because of the evildoers. A pox upon your house, I say! Find something productive to do and leave the rest of us in peace!J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-29803159147489865312010-07-03T11:19:00.008-05:002010-07-03T11:54:08.014-05:00Celebrating Independence<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP86xewawGdG15bJZ3aETlKNZAvYq6CZXheEX8t__D5DU6prdWk4nIJcjBJ3lgE1ZE7o4VCDQZZZ3_BEYfrkF281eH8oD1MuYQtYW4w4LVhHqHDd0r4zlL-ufaQQqb51Hulv9z5wkRB_22/s1600/fireworks%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489722166428329970" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP86xewawGdG15bJZ3aETlKNZAvYq6CZXheEX8t__D5DU6prdWk4nIJcjBJ3lgE1ZE7o4VCDQZZZ3_BEYfrkF281eH8oD1MuYQtYW4w4LVhHqHDd0r4zlL-ufaQQqb51Hulv9z5wkRB_22/s320/fireworks%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>This weekend is the Fourth of July, and it’s time to celebrate! More important, it’s time to take a look at how much we know—or don’t know—about the events that led to the creation of our nation. So while we’re waiting for those burgers to finish grilling, let’s do a little research.<br /><br />According to the <a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Declaration_of_Independence_(United_States)">New World Encyclopedia</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Continental_Congress">Second Continental Congress</a> declared independence on July 2, 1776, by passing the “Lee Resolution” presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia on June 7, 1776. It read in part:<br /><br />“Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”<br /><br />Sound familiar? Congress amended Lee’s resolution somewhat before adopting it on July 4, 1776, at Independence Hall. Did you know that John Adams thought the event should be celebrated not on July 4, but on July 2? In a letter written July 3 to his wife, he wrote:<br /><br />“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.<br /><br />“You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.” (<a href="http://www1.american.edu/heintze/Adams.htm">The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784</a>, Harvard University Press, 1975, 142.)<br /><br />Although he guessed wrong on the date, he was certainly right about the celebration!<br /><br />Over the years I’ve been repeatedly impressed by the importance of resources like the <a href="http://americanpatriotseries.blogspot.com/">American Patriot Series</a> in keeping our national memory alive. An article in the March/April 2010 edition of <em>History Channel Magazine</em> confirmed the urgency I feel to ensure that the events, values, and leaders of our nation’s founding aren’t lost forever through ignorance and indifference. The findings cited in the article, titled “Who Cares About the American Revolution?” convinced me that we’re in dire danger of that happening very soon.<br /><br />According to a national survey conducted by the <a href="http://www.americanrevolutioncenter.org/">American Revolution Center</a> in 2009, “Americans highly value, but vastly overrate, their knowledge of the Revolutionary period.” Eighty-three percent of those tested on the underlying beliefs and freedoms established during the Revolution failed. In fact, the average score, according to the information on the Center’s Web site, was 44. That’s pretty shocking. Below are some other dismal findings from the survey.<br /><ul><li>More Americans who took the test knew that Michael Jackson sang “Beat It” than knew that the Bill if Rights is part of the U.S. Constitution. And isn’t that just sad? </li><li>Half of adult participants believed that the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, or the War of 1812 preceded the Revolution. From conversations with people I’ve encountered, I can attest to that! </li><li>The same number of adults believed that the Constitution established a democracy. Hey, folks, what we have here is a republic! Our Founders specifically did NOT want a democracy, for very good reasons. You might want to research what they were. </li><li>One third of participants had no idea the right to a jury trial is included in the Bill of Rights. Hmm . . . See point # 1 above. Obviously they don’t even know what the Bill of Rights is!</li><li>Many Americans lack a basic understanding of the chronology, scale, duration, and human cost of the Revolution. This just makes my heart bleed. </li></ul><p>In other words, the great sacrifices our founding generation made to secure our liberty and establish our nation have been forgotten. And if we keep on down this road, soon our liberties themselves will be forgotten. One fights to hold onto what one values. And apparently Americans today don’t value their freedoms enough to even learn what they are.<br /><br />Dr. Bruce Cole, president and CEO of the <a href="http://www.americanrevolutioncenter.org/">American Revolution Center</a> is quoted in the article as saying: “You can’t remember what you don’t know . . . What needs to be kept in mind is that knowledge of our nation’s founding principles is critical because it enables citizens to participate wisely in government, to understand the historical global context of our country’s origins, to embrace a diversity of ideas, and to commit to the quest for freedom and equal rights.”<br /><br />Amen to that, brother!<br /><br />I encourage you to check out the <a href="http://www.americanrevolutioncenter.org/">American Revolution Center</a>. Plans are being made to build a Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, the first national museum dedicated to the Revolution and its enduring legacy. On the center’s Web site, you’ll find resources that include a searchable database of lesson plans, an interactive timeline, and links to more than 70 American Revolution Web sites and organizations. It also offers a survey to test your knowledge of the Revolution. I challenge you to take it.<br /><br />I scored 91%, missing 2 questions, one of which related to the Constitutional era, which I admit I haven’t researched as heavily as the Revolution. The other I did the same thing many of us do on tests: I kept thinking one answer was correct (it was), but I second guessed myself and gave the answer I thought should be true (it wasn’t). Let that be a lesson to you! Go with your gut instincts. So take the test and leave a comment letting me know how you did!<br /><br />Another challenge for you. Take my pop quiz below. Research any answers you’re not familiar with and tell me what you learned that you didn’t already know.<br /><br />I didn’t know the <a href="http://www.americanrevolutioncenter.org/">American Revolution Center</a> existed, but you can bet I’m going to get really, really familiar with it asap! I can’t wait until they build the museum they’re planning. What a resource that will be! <br /></p><div align="center"><strong>Pop Quiz</strong></div><br /><div align="left">What is the Bill of Rights?<br /><br />When and why was it created?<br /><br />How many amendments are in the Bill of Rights?<br /><br />Give a brief summary of each of the amendments. </div><br /><br /><br /><div align="left"></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Cross posted on the </em></span><a href="http://americanpatriotseries.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>American Patriot Series Blog</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>.<br /><br /></em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-26410382678959287602009-12-11T06:00:00.001-06:002009-12-11T06:00:01.678-06:00Vision and ValuesWith the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Americans suddenly found themselves in the middle of a war. No one knew how long it would last, what sacrifices would be demanded, or even if we would win. Today we are involved in another war against the powers of evil. This conflict also came upon us suddenly and without warning. Again we have no way of knowing with certainty how long the struggle will last, the full measure of sacrifice it will call for, or whether we will, in the end, prevail.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsDko5ijUHexxDj6JUwYWB_rRwfIK30FMREnWdg_M3G4N4wVaJhd952v3DgAU-cblMZEI4ZuU5wtVEtdZOUa0e2KYOzb7iRtEN2h54ei4Pc-D7PqymU6brRScX1aeIL7o73JPKEcbakK/s1600-h/leutze2%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412302104658404786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 188px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBsDko5ijUHexxDj6JUwYWB_rRwfIK30FMREnWdg_M3G4N4wVaJhd952v3DgAU-cblMZEI4ZuU5wtVEtdZOUa0e2KYOzb7iRtEN2h54ei4Pc-D7PqymU6brRScX1aeIL7o73JPKEcbakK/s320/leutze2%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>One of the books I’m using to research the third volume in my American Patriot series is <em>Washington’s Crossing</em> by David Hackett Fischer. As I read about the hardships the soldiers of the Revolution and their families endured, I am deeply impressed by the vision and values that guided the patriots. Fischer gives a moving account of the critical battles of Trenton and Princeton during the dark winter of 1776-77, when the lamp of Revolution flickered for what appeared to be one last time and came very near to being extinguished. All that kept the flame of liberty alive was the unconquerable resolution of those committed to the battle.<br /><br />Honor and humanity were their touchstones and their guides. At first, Washington’s relations with his New England troops were difficult, even contentious. The independent attitudes of these small farmers, shopkeepers, fishermen, and laborers were very different from tho, se of the wealthy Southern planters among whom he lived, and made it hard to maintain discipline. Over time, however, he learned that while these men could not be driven, they could be led.<br /><br />Fischer notes that through the trial by fire that they shared, Washington came to treat these Yankees, whom he initially viewed with disdain, as men of honor. The American army of that day became the only military force in the world that treated even privates as gentlemen. This was a new concept for that day: that moral condition, rather than social rank, is what defines a gentleman; and that honor is a principle of human dignity instead of an entitlement of rank, status, or gender.<br /><br />These new ethical values took practical form in the general orders Washington issued forbidding his troops from plundering anyone, even the Tories, who opposed the rebellion. Washington frequently reminded his troops that they were fighting for liberty and that even the enemy deserved to be treated humanely. He also established strict standards for the treatment of prisoners of war and noncombatants. In contrast to the cruelty British and Hessian troops often directed against women and children, Washington ordered that they were to be treated with “humanity and tenderness.”<br /><br />In spite of the flaws and failures all too common to human beings then and now, these values persist in American culture today. It is amazing to think that this vision of human worth and dignity was established at the very beginning of our nation’s existence and still forms the foundation on which it stands. Believing that they would win the victory only if they deserved it, Washington and his officers cared deeply about how their actions were viewed by the world and by God. How familiar these ideals sound in relation to the war Americans are fighting today to defeat terrorism! Now, as then, our goal is to ensure that all people everywhere can enjoy the liberty and human dignity that are their birthright as children of God.<br /><br />Those of us who care deeply about where we Americans came from and where we are going will never allow the heroic sacrifices of our forebears to be forgotten nor the vision and values for which they spilled their blood to be abandoned. Still today we believe that we will win the fight only if we deserve victory. Let us each strive to live in such a way that we do.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">* Painting: “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by Emmanuel Leutze, 1851.</span></em>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-73764723969412912542009-12-09T06:00:00.002-06:002009-12-09T06:00:03.120-06:00The Courage to Stand<em>During 1775-76, the American colonies suffered a string of defeats, including the unsuccessful invasion of Canada, the battles of Brooklyn, Manhattan and White Plains, and Washington's retreat into New Jersey. The grand army assembled by Washington to meet the British in Brooklyn almost disappeared. It declined from over 20,000 in September 1776 to less than 4,000 by December, when the dramatic battles of Trenton and Princeton were fought. . . . These losses were by and large the result of discouragement—the impact of successive defeats with concurrent disillusionment and a growing rate of desertion—and the departure of soldiers, and indeed whole units, who returned home at the end of their short-term enlistments. . . .<br /><br />As shown by the Battle of Brooklyn, the Revolution, if successful, would be won as a war of the thirteen colonies united as a nation, with an army representing the whole, not parts of it, or factions, each with its own contribution to make but also with its own local agenda....With the Battle of Brooklyn, the Congress was forced to reassess its thoughts about a national, standing army.</em><br /><div align="right">—James Dingeman in the Introduction to <em>The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776,</em> by John J. Gallagher</div><br /><div align="left"><br />On my desk beside my computer stands a small, framed quotation that says, “Joan, trust me. I have everything under control. Jesus.” I look at it often as I work on my projects.<br /><br />It occurs to me that we so often either forget, or doubt, that God really does have everything under control. Every day’s news includes accounts of more casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, the build up of nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, the continuing genocide in the Sudan and other places, famine, natural disasters, appalling crimes, and on and on that tempt us to wonder whether God even cares or if he ultimately possesses the power to put an end to these evils.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2d1oAgA8KNjqwyfQJAWkAEjG7_xqPVj3YKD44yfBTkyidkQq3zVxWB9GDR4CGAJrOuRM5cewdAD2cpR0xZ0N8NXSQXSfzvYQqH7NTIJTWCBokdhxvR9VmcPZC5XhCM4dh4WKknMAg3TY/s1600-h/Prayer+at+Valley+Forge.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412306440790100834" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 202px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2d1oAgA8KNjqwyfQJAWkAEjG7_xqPVj3YKD44yfBTkyidkQq3zVxWB9GDR4CGAJrOuRM5cewdAD2cpR0xZ0N8NXSQXSfzvYQqH7NTIJTWCBokdhxvR9VmcPZC5XhCM4dh4WKknMAg3TY/s320/Prayer+at+Valley+Forge.jpg" border="0" /></a>Surely Washington must have wrestled with the same issues as he watched his army slip away in the days and months following the debacle at Brooklyn Heights. Where is God when we need him the most? Why doesn’t he intervene to set things right when everything has gone so wrong? Why does the good always seem to be under such implacable attack—and losing? Is God in control, after all? Or is God only the name we give to some indifferent cosmic force out there in the universe?<br /><br />Over the years I've grappled with all these questions—and more. And the conclusion I've come to may seem like a cop-out to some people, but in the end it's the only conclusion that makes any sense.<br /><br />I once read the statement that God is his own arbiter. Because we are not God, because our minds can never comprehend the vastness of the universe God created, much less the mind of the One who created it, we are not capable of seeing the fullness of God's purpose and will at work in our world. God reveals to us what little we can understand and then requires us to trust him for the rest. Sure, we can shake our fists at God or refuse to believe in him, but what does that accomplish when he is the one who sets the parameters of our existence? The unalterable truth is that God will judge us, we will not judge God. God is what he is whether we like it or agree with it. Our opinions and preferences, where they are not in line with Truth, are simply irrelevant. In this life it is not our responsibility to decide what Truth is, but to discover Truth and live by its light.<br /><br />At Christmastime in 1776, Washington stared the stark reality of his army's situation in the face and made the only decision he could make short of giving up the conflict and facing execution for treason. He went on the attack with an achingly small force of ragged, half-naked, ill equipped, and exhausted men. They attacked through a raging nor'easter, driving though a blizzard of howling wind, ice, and snow that no human should be able to survive to fight a well-equipped and formidably trained enemy that decisively outnumbered them. Several men froze to death waiting for the boats that would ferry them across the Delaware. But Washington refused to turn back, and his steadfast determination inspired the men he led to feats none of them thought possible. And they won.<br /><br />Indeed, the Revolution would be won as a war of the thirteen colonies united as a nation, not by factions pursuing their own individual agendas. The patriots of that day trusted their fate to God and refused to give up the liberties the Almighty had given them. They unflinchingly made the sacrifices that were necessary to see the war through and secure the blessings of liberty for the generations that followed. Are we prepared to make those same sacrifices today? Will we set aside the narrow regionalism and political agendas that sap our strength, blind our vision, and bog us down? Will we choose to earnestly seek God's will instead of our own individual, and temporary, advantage?<br /><br />Only time will reveal the answer to those questions. I pray that our nation will take courage, earnestly implore God’s help, follow the path of righteousness wherever God may lead us, and leave the results to the One who alone rules the future.</div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-51187475576038923132009-12-06T00:17:00.007-06:002009-12-06T00:40:30.386-06:00American PatriotWhen I talk about patriotism, I mean the term in the best sense: the love for and loyalty to one’s country that doesn’t denigrate other great nations and their citizens. This is the country of my birth, and I feel so blessed that God placed me here, where I have the liberty, peace, and opportunities that are denied so many people around the world.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJMPkO3UAoBIx4Ssao0FF3WdmoDcpvYEjEA-fqi3ujh6-Z15jLeEC1oh6LhJKRPtexykUflGMsCcR0N1m3QDVk5qV-sExvX19mB7dlestE7ePTt8GUwF_RWeuyIpJsRYARb5gAA-Jn0ypA/s1600-h/pearl-harbor-uss-virginia%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq4PQZHwqpILral4uvHhkg8o5Z8tNnKds0r3uK-hO_L-Sbcd7yyHBjn2sGmfy5AUhmcNUWCCg-OSdoW5_8Q7vqTaSWXRfSlBEQzuAmpt71DYk2GlBIO56iz8C7t439LvITEQmpq5UWw_9/s1600-h/pearl-harbor-uss-virginia%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412008570599846642" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 264px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 220px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJq4PQZHwqpILral4uvHhkg8o5Z8tNnKds0r3uK-hO_L-Sbcd7yyHBjn2sGmfy5AUhmcNUWCCg-OSdoW5_8Q7vqTaSWXRfSlBEQzuAmpt71DYk2GlBIO56iz8C7t439LvITEQmpq5UWw_9/s320/pearl-harbor-uss-virginia%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>On December 7, 1941 the United States was attacked suddenly, secretly, and without provocation at <a href="http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_pearl_harbor.html">Pearl Harbor</a>. Outrage at that unprovoked attack resulted in the greatest war effort ever known to quell the aggressions of Germany and Japan. Almost sixty years later, on September 11, 2001, we were once again attacked in the same way. And again the citizens of our great nation initially pulled together to begin a war on terrorism. But now, after the passage of only eight years, the horror of that day have faded, and most of us have settled back into to our everyday lives without much thought of the immense losses suffered by so many and the continuing sacrifices our servicemen and women make daily to preserve our freedom and security.<br /><br />In doing research for the historical fiction series I am writing about the <a href="http://americanpatriotseries.blogspot.com/">American Revolution</a>, I’m humbled and moved by the heroism of that first Greatest Generation that won our liberty for us at such great personal cost. Today so few citizens of this country know much about what happened so many years ago, yet if those events had never happened, this nation would not exist. Time and again I’m confronted by the realization that few even care, and it breaks my heart.<br /><br />Will the same be true of our soldiers and their families who endured hardship in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf Wars, and Afghanistan and Iraq? Do we forget so quickly, so easily, the incredible sacrifices these heros have made and are making on our behalf?<br /><br />Each year on the anniversaries of these attacks, I hope we will set aside time to remember and reflect on the men and women who, down through more than 200 years of our history, gave their all so that you and I could live in freedom. May God continue to bless America as we resolve to obey His laws and cherish the blessings of liberty we enjoy.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">* Photo of <em>USS Virginia.</em></span>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-33455691215628107272009-08-14T13:31:00.000-05:002009-08-14T14:07:41.564-05:00Stand Fast!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoG7K_Csg_wj2QCW99b0pB6sDhmrDM0ExNFG0KILvV4b-9wKgMVc36zvNDu5MLt6-qbiplp9W4ejs4kXLYNX7RIKkU39mTEXiJOlapvFeeXWHuhoUoamVOsJCxpqF35th0QwtQSATh_M5r/s1600-h/Treason.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369895326620422786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 247px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoG7K_Csg_wj2QCW99b0pB6sDhmrDM0ExNFG0KILvV4b-9wKgMVc36zvNDu5MLt6-qbiplp9W4ejs4kXLYNX7RIKkU39mTEXiJOlapvFeeXWHuhoUoamVOsJCxpqF35th0QwtQSATh_M5r/s320/Treason.jpg" border="0" /></a>The following column was posted on <a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/">Crosswalk’s </a>e-newsletter <em><a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home">Breakpoint </a></em>on August 7, 2009. I don’t usually copy an entire column, but the subject is simply too important and Colson’s treatment of it too well stated to provide only an excerpt.<br /><br />If you don’t subscribe to <em><a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home">Breakpoint</a>,</em> I highly recommend it as an excellent way to stay informed about the issues and challenges impacting our nation today. Let’s not sink into apathy and watch all our Founders gave their lives for be stripped away! Please click on the links to check out the resources on <a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/">Crosswalk’s </a>site and to subscribe to <em><a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home">Breakpoint</a>,</em> and then follow through and act on the issues you read about. Together we can make a difference if we fight to preserve our precious heritage and don’t faint! <a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/">Crosswalk </a>and <a href="http://www.breakpoint.org/bp-home">Breakpoint</a> are great places to start!<br /><br /><strong>Rejecting Apathy</strong><br />Chuck Colson<br /><br /><strong><em>The Church and American Civilization</em><br /></strong><br />Many Christians, once motivated by protecting the sanctity of life, religious freedom, and traditional marriage, seem inconsolable—as if the fight is over and there’s nothing we can do about it.<br /><br />But embracing this attitude is a certain prescription for disaster.<br /><br />I received last month a newsletter by Don Reeverts of the Denver Leadership Foundation. In it he gives the following quote, often attributed to an 18th-century Scottish writer:<br /><br /><em>The average age of the world’s great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence . . . from bondage to spiritual faith . . . from spiritual faith to courage . . . from courage to liberty . . . from liberty to abundance . . . from abundance to selfishness . . . from selfishness to complacency . . . from complacency to apathy . . . from apathy to dependency . . . from dependency back to bondage.<br /></em><br />These are sobering words. This question of where America is in the cycle should be extremely important for Christians. That’s because I firmly believe that culture is nothing but religion incarnate—that when we see a culture losing its moral footing, it’s because believers have failed to bring Christian truth to bear in society. We haven’t been, as Calvin put it, making the invisible kingdom visible.<br /><br />So what stage are we in? Reeverts thinks we are entering the stage of apathy. And I hate to say it, but I agree. I am finding growing apathy among believers.<br /><br />Apathy manifests itself in how people dress, how they talk, how they care for each other—and how concerned they are about the great issues of the day. It resembles what the Greeks called acedia, a languidness, a torpor, in which we stop caring about anything.<br /><br />Apathy inevitably leads to dependency. And once we become dependent on Big Brother, we are back in bondage. Can anybody really watch the dramatic growth of governmental power and not be alarmed? For the fact of the matter is that the more government acts as God, the less people depend on the one true God.<br /><br />Your congressmen and senators are home now for summer recess. Have you contacted them? Are you angry about what’s happening in this country today? Things like the elimination of the conscience clause for medical professionals, or embryonic stem cell research, or the advance of gay “marriage,” or threats to religious liberties, or government making life-and-death decisions in health care? If you’re not upset about those things, you’ve succumbed to apathy already.<br /><br />I can’t imagine anybody sitting at home, comfortably watching us slip into a state of dependency without getting outraged, and then without expressing that outrage.<br /><br />If we value our liberties, if we believe in the most fundamental principles upon which our civilization is based, then we owe it to our God and to future generations to speak out.<br /><br />Institutions aren’t going to change the course of America; but great movements have changed the course of the nation and will again. And what better network to fuel a movement than the Church? Rejecting apathy and trusting in God, firm in our belief in human dignity and our God-given liberties, the Church can ignite a fire in this country.<br /><br />Do we get it? I pray that we do.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">The painting above is Peter F. Rothermel’s (1851) depiction of Patrick Henry giving his inflammatory “Treason” speech before the Virginia House of Burgesses on May 30, 1765, in opposition to the Stamp Act imposed on the colonies by Britain.</span></em>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-64811263051138224792009-04-10T05:38:00.000-05:002009-04-10T06:33:12.367-05:00Faith of Our FoundersSadly, many citizens of the United States have bought into the lie that our Founders were not believers in Jesus Christ, that at most some of them were Deists. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Our Founders understood that faith in God is indelibly linked to liberty. With the Easter season upon us, let us reclaim this godly heritage before we lose it forever.<br /><br />“The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. . . . The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institution may be abused by human depravity. . . . It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.”<br /><div align="right">—George Washington</div><br /><div align="left">“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” Shortly before his death, he wrote, “Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself, and your country more than yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence.”<br /><div align="right">—Thomas Jefferson</div><br /><div align="left">“The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it.”<br /><div align="right">—James Madison</div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhN1XmjqsOAR1S_mrVoY9OLcV3ati_OL1mmNSRJa2bXI6w9vwBdS0aI9iVAuTcrsy4aeW8JkS_C8McNmWpzEtheR4OONyBwNV4fnPp0KUSPLrUaNOq5fWxbhF0H6UBwwVZ6ypgkYbDZHI/s1600-h/J_Adams%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323021930921691490" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 256px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 333px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhN1XmjqsOAR1S_mrVoY9OLcV3ati_OL1mmNSRJa2bXI6w9vwBdS0aI9iVAuTcrsy4aeW8JkS_C8McNmWpzEtheR4OONyBwNV4fnPp0KUSPLrUaNOq5fWxbhF0H6UBwwVZ6ypgkYbDZHI/s320/J_Adams%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>“It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe.”<br /><div align="right">—John Adams<br /><div align="left"><br />“The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.” </div><div align="right">—John Jay</div><br /><div align="left">“It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape.”</div></div><div align="right">—Justice Joseph Story</div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">Quotes from <em>The Patriot Post,</em> Special Easter Edition, Vol. 09 No. 14, 9 April 2009.</span> </div></div></div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-86912010243157502442009-03-08T14:28:00.001-05:002009-03-08T14:54:39.983-05:00The Influence of the First Great Awakening on the American Revolution<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvhsN9wxz_CEaCkGbOweKXMIlkB__y_aGA7vkZvlTrBCAD_l-Asliu36j60MxQsXanmEQopeAZRepopjRTgkvjaUHWuJ72QJzXwLgqmkjonmkm5EMzslbfefY7h9-ugTkE3QGUxZd2RLWW/s1600-h/Inside+18th+cen.+Lutheran+Church.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310905849198729410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 251px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvhsN9wxz_CEaCkGbOweKXMIlkB__y_aGA7vkZvlTrBCAD_l-Asliu36j60MxQsXanmEQopeAZRepopjRTgkvjaUHWuJ72QJzXwLgqmkjonmkm5EMzslbfefY7h9-ugTkE3QGUxZd2RLWW/s320/Inside+18th+cen.+Lutheran+Church.jpg" border="0" /></a>Today we’re finally getting back to Part 2 of our series on the First Great Awakening that we began on <a href="http://lampofhistory.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-11-23T19%3A21%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7">October 24, 2008</a>.<br /><br />In many ways, the religious upheaval of the First Great Awakening prepared an entire generation of colonial men and women to become involved in the political upheaval that followed in its wake. Some historians have seen the revivals as the means by which the poorer classes of society challenged the privileges of the upper classes, setting the stage for the political conflicts that led directly to the Revolution.<br /><br />The spiritual climate became contentious, and religious conflict spread like wildfire from the church into politics. Because the colonists of the revolutionary generation had already made life-changing choices about their fundamental religious beliefs and loyalties, they were prepared to make equally crucial political decisions and did not hesitate to rebel against religious, social, and political structures that denied their right to self-determination.<br /><br />Many Christian Americans believed that the colonies were a New Israel and that the colonists were God’s chosen people, views that steadily hardened defiance of the established royal governments and the ancient tradition of the divine right of kings. For these Americans, the rebellion became a holy war against Britain and her king, who were viewed as sinful, corrupt.<br /><br />As traditions of radical Protestant dissent merged with a rising tide of republicanism, the spiraling conflict finally blossomed into full-scale revolution. The religious culture in the colonies, which held industry and frugality to be virtues and believed in consensual, contractual forms of church government, shaped the resistance to Britain’s colonial policies as well as the republican legislatures and constitutions that replaced the royal colonial governments during the war.<br /><br />In colonies where one denomination received state support, other denominations increasingly lobbied their legislature to end the favored status of the established denomination. This freedom of religion was subsequently enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Adapted from </em></span><a href="http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>“The First Great Awakening”</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em> by Christine Leigh Heyrman, Department of History, University of Delaware, © National Humanities Center.</em></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">The image above depicts a Lutheran church service. Watercolor with pen and ink by folk artist Lewis Miller (1796-1882), c. 1800, the Historical Society of York County, Pennsylvania. </span></em>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-74923959803167052492008-12-25T08:00:00.000-06:002008-12-25T08:00:01.023-06:00Christmas Symbols and Their Meanings, Part 3<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfYMke8g2gcahdg2obIXDAHxWA3n5bW-6vEX4J88rvKem8ExEJoaCZL1f9hyBI7isUmygAX5vi3tclngVmwB-Rbxz8zOIUSTaTBbgMSmleP1NCZwCSzHTe5_0fD4q5egHQ2HjmdT9aJvN/s1600-h/Santa+Claus.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282008755704758418" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 202px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFfYMke8g2gcahdg2obIXDAHxWA3n5bW-6vEX4J88rvKem8ExEJoaCZL1f9hyBI7isUmygAX5vi3tclngVmwB-Rbxz8zOIUSTaTBbgMSmleP1NCZwCSzHTe5_0fD4q5egHQ2HjmdT9aJvN/s320/Santa+Claus.jpg" border="0" /></a>Today we conclude our series on Christmas symbols and their meanings.<br /><br /><strong>Santa Claus.</strong> Santa Claus is a corrupted form of Saint Nicholas. He was the fourth Bishop of Myra in modern-day Turkey, and his feast day is December 6. Saint Nicholas was very generous to the poor, but most of the time he kept his identity a secret. The most well-known story is about three young women whose destitute father was going to force them into prostitution so they could survive. To prevent this, Nicholas, secretly went to their home on three separate nights and threw a bag of gold though an open window. Over time, the bishop’s miter and fur trimmed red winter garments became Santa’s outfit, and Saint Nicholas’s generosity was attributed to the “jolly old man” who delivers gifts anonymously on Christmas Eve.<br /><br /><strong>Sugar and Christmas Candy.</strong> Sugar isn’t found in Scripture, and for centuries only the wealthy could afford it, while lower classes used honey or molasses as sweeteners. References to honey are found frequently in Scripture. The sweets we consume at Christmas remind us of the sweetness of God’s presence that come into the world on Christmas in the form of Jesus.<br /><br /><strong>Yule Log.</strong> The Yule log is a large log that is burned during traditional Christmas celebrations. Yule, which means sun or light, was a festival in honor of the sun god. The 25th of December was the birthday of the Roman god Mithras, who was known as the unconquered sun. Christians can see how the Lord used this symbol to prepare the pagans for Christ, the son of God, the eternal Light, the God of all gods.<br /><br />The Yule log is reminiscent of Christ’s cross, made of wood. As the burning log gives light as it “dies,” so the death of Christ on the cross brought our world from the darkness of sin into the light of faith. As the burning of the log was thought to bring health, fruitfulness, and prosperity and to ward off evil spirits, so Christ’s sacrificial death brought to those who believe in Him the fruits of the Holy Spirit, health of soul, and prosperity in their spiritual life. Through His death, Christ conquered all evil spirits for all time. Burning the Yule log for twelve days prepared the pagans to recall the twelve tribes of Israel, which preceded Christ, and the twelve apostles whom Our Lord sent to spread the fire of the Holy Spirit to light up all the world.<br /><br /><strong>Wreath.</strong> Wreaths combine several Christmas symbols including holly, fruit, mistletoe, evergreens, tinsel, and so on, all of which retain their symbolism on the wreath.<br /><br /><strong>Advent Wreath.</strong> The Advent Wreath combines the symbolism of wreathes, evergreens, candles, and holly, when used. In addition, the Advent wreath uses the symbolic colors purple and pink. In an Advent Wreath, three purple candles, signifying penance, prayer, and preparation for Christmas, and one pink candle, symbolizing joy, are spaced equidistantly around the wreath. Each candle represents 1,000 years which, taken together, equal the traditional sense of 4,000 years from Adam to the birth of Christ. The purple candles are lighted on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent, and the pink one on the third Sunday. The white candle in the wreath’s center symbolizes the birth of Christ, the Light of the World and the center of all creation.<br /><br /><strong>Ham.</strong> The wild boar, which can normally reach 440 lbs.(200 kg) and occasionally larger (up to 660 lbs. [300 kg]) is the wild ancestor of the domestic pig. Hunting boar was a dangerous sport in medieval times because a boar was powerful, unpredictable, and aggressive. With its massive weight, sharp hooves, short pointed tusks, and quick movements, a boar could easily attack and kill a man. Christians saw in the boar a symbol of Satan who, in the spiritual realm, could unpredictably and aggressively attack and even spiritually kill the soul.<br /><br />In some artistic renditions of Satan, this enemy of God is portrayed as resembling a boar (sharp hoofed feet, tusks or fangs, hairy, large). Therefore, Christians easily adapted the Scandinavian custom of slaughtering a pig at Yule time to honor the god Freyr who ruled over the sun, rain, and produce of the fields. By carrying into their Christmas feasts a boar’s head on a platter, Christians were proclaiming that Jesus has the ultimate victory over Satan, symbolized by the boar. The Christmas ham is an adaptation of this custom.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILbj9cuW_qWtYzySmsLjfACPFTLRjB2JGy46BtLyR6hExb0C4xt84dwCyFOkHrvcd_xwDXu_Xx4hESEywvxcSskgmkxoi5-vcMoOppakLji251sy9T0vPKtVS7F6vRlZ3Li52gLL3ZxFu/s1600-h/Christmas+Cookies.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282010673345741026" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 218px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 208px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILbj9cuW_qWtYzySmsLjfACPFTLRjB2JGy46BtLyR6hExb0C4xt84dwCyFOkHrvcd_xwDXu_Xx4hESEywvxcSskgmkxoi5-vcMoOppakLji251sy9T0vPKtVS7F6vRlZ3Li52gLL3ZxFu/s320/Christmas+Cookies.jpg" border="0" /></a>Christmas Cookies, Breads, Pastries.</strong> Christmas pastries are made with flour and remind us of the many uses of bread in Scripture. The Jewish people offered cakes made with oil to the Lord. The Israelites took their unleavened loaves with them when they fled Egypt. They recalled this event yearly in the feast of Unleavened Bread. The manna in the desert tasted like wafers made with honey. Elijah performed a miracle in which a widow’s flour did not run out during a time of famine. When David brought the Ark of God back to Jerusalem, he gave each person in Israel a loaf of bread, a cut of meat, and a raisin cake. Jesus multiplied loaves twice in Scripture and came as the Bread of Life. He comes to us in every Mass under the form of Eucharistic bread and wine. This rich history is present to us with every taste of Christmas pastries.<br /><br /><strong>Stocking.</strong> The tradition of placing gifts into Christmas stockings come from another tradition regarding Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra. In this tradition, the three women who needed dowries in order to be kept from a life of prostitution had hung their stockings by the fireplace to dry. When the saint came by to help them, the money that he threw into their house fortuitously landed in the stockings. The tradition of naughty children receiving a lump of coal in their stockings comes from Italy. Because stockings cover our feet, they symbolize our life’s journey. If our journey takes us closer to God, He rewards us with the joys and happiness of eternal life. But if we constantly turn from Him, we will do so in eternity as well. In popular imagination, satan stokes the fires of hell with coal. Hence, coal in the stocking of naughty children is a somber reminder of damnation while the gifts good children receive foreshadow their eternal reward.<br /><br />I wish you all the most blessed of Christmases and a joyous New Year!<br /><br /><div><div><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Excerpted from </span><a href="http://www.penitents.org/stmartin2006.htm"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://www.penitents.org/stmartin2006.htm</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> Confraternity of Penitents.</span></div></div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-1290339423334705042008-12-24T08:00:00.000-06:002008-12-24T08:00:00.338-06:00Christmas Symbols and Their Meanings, Part 2I found a fascinating discussion of Christmas symbols and their meanings of the Web site of the <a href="http://www.penitents.org/stmartin2006.htm">Confraternity of Penitents</a>, from which the following discussion is excerpted.<br /><br /><strong>Gifts.</strong> The wise men who brought their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh inspired the concept of gift giving at Christmas. At Christmas, however, many people focus on giving and receiving gifts instead of on the greatest gift of Jesus that God gave to us at Bethlehem.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcHdFNYiJXdTG8EKlzFsBaAAdB56wUrOTIlh6rXib1_o7gN0ihdrNkwDpjjvc_s2l2x0WEOrSyMq6-Isr5O2xSTtIAs6hAtwNexV0qKNjdVJNELhMlP1C_ap2NQzly5xPgS0vc7VbkZN6J/s1600-h/Fruit+Basket.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281879153497962962" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcHdFNYiJXdTG8EKlzFsBaAAdB56wUrOTIlh6rXib1_o7gN0ihdrNkwDpjjvc_s2l2x0WEOrSyMq6-Isr5O2xSTtIAs6hAtwNexV0qKNjdVJNELhMlP1C_ap2NQzly5xPgS0vc7VbkZN6J/s320/Fruit+Basket.jpg" border="0" /></a>Fruit.</strong> At Christmas, people often give fruit baskets as gifts. At the turn of the 1900s, good children would receive an orange as a Christmas present. Many Christmas dinners feature fruit such as cranberry sauce. As a Christmas symbol, fruit recalls the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit that are a result of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives.<br /><br /><strong>Christmas Tree.</strong> In the early 700’s, Saint Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity, cut down the Oak of Thor, the mighty sacred tree worshipped by the Saxons. From its roots grew a fir tree that Boniface took as a sign of the Christian faith. In the 11th century, Paradise plays portrayed the tree of Paradise decorated with red apples. During the 15th century, the faithful began to place trees in their homes on December 24, which was the feast day of Adam and Eve. Around the year 1500, Martin Luther was inspired by the beauty of a snow covered fir tree to bring a small tree inside and decorate it with candles in honor of Christ’s birth.<br /><br />By the 18th century, the custom of decorating a Christmas tree was well established in France, Germany, and Austria, and in America by the 1800s. The Christmas tree represents the original Tree of Paradise, the burning bush that spoke to Moses, the branch of Jesse from which Jesus was born, the life-giving tree of the cross of Christ, and the tree that John saw in the book of Revelation, whose leaves provide medicine for the people and which yields fruit each month for the healing of the nations. Because it is always green, the evergreen tree represents hope. Its needles and its narrow crest point upward, turning our thoughts to heaven. As the tree is cut down, and then put up again, it symbolizes Christ’s resurrection.<br /><br /><strong>Candles And Christmas Lights.</strong> In the Advent wreath, a purple candle symbolizing penance is lighted for the first, second, and fourth Sundays of Advent. A pink candle symbolizing joy is lighted on the third Sunday of Advent. A white candle in the center of the wreath symbolizing Christ’s purity is lighted on Christmas Day. Before electricity, people used candles to light their homes and to decorate their Christmas trees. Candles and Christmas lights represent Christ, the Light of the World.<br /><br /><strong>Bells.</strong> Jewish high priests wore bells on the bottom hem of their ephods so that when they ministered in the temple, the tinkling sound could be heard as the priest entered and left God’s presence in order to keep him from dying. Christmas bells not only symbolize the joy of Christmas, but they also remind us that Christ is our great high priest, who offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins once for all.<br /><br /><strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivL8_lIplCuKM-omgeWeg4fKB_4GsNXISHIONGEP40oQBg5z_fH3b6Q4j_tOMs5GfmJrYvVjC75OvjAsOaBA02ZsuBZQAzLNsLAkeUDHSnmVn4Vc664ERCroTCP0y5zl0OJISKbKEDEeD/s1600-h/Candy+Cane.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281880010815598002" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 170px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 174px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivL8_lIplCuKM-omgeWeg4fKB_4GsNXISHIONGEP40oQBg5z_fH3b6Q4j_tOMs5GfmJrYvVjC75OvjAsOaBA02ZsuBZQAzLNsLAkeUDHSnmVn4Vc664ERCroTCP0y5zl0OJISKbKEDEeD/s320/Candy+Cane.jpg" border="0" /></a>Candy Canes.</strong> The candy cane is shaped like a shepherd’s crook, reminding us that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, came into our world at Christmas. The red stripe symbolizes Christ’s sacrifice and the white background his purity. The candy cane reminds us of Isaiah’s prophecy of the suffering servant who was led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) and by his stripes you were healed (Isaiah 53:5). Candy canes have a peppermint flavor, reminiscent of hyssop, which has cleansing medicinal purposes. Jesus came to heal our ills and to purge us of sin. When Jesus was crucified, a bystander stuck a wine-filled sponge on a branch of hyssop to give Jesus a drink. The peppermint flavor reminds us that our healing came at the price of Christ’s life. The candy cane is meant to be broken and shared, just as Jesus’ body was broken on the cross and shared through the gospel.<br /><br /><strong>Gingerbread Men.</strong> Gingerbread men are created, reminding us God’s creation of Adam and Eve, and God’s creation of each of us. Spices, reminiscent of those mentioned in the Old Testament, make the gingerbread man the color of the earth from which Adam was created. Gingerbread people are created to be eaten, in effect reuniting with their creators, just as God created us for eternal union with Him after we die.<br /><br />Please join me tomorrow for Part 3 of Christmas Symbols and Their Meanings!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Excerpted from </span><a href="http://www.penitents.org/stmartin2006.htm"><span style="font-size:85%;">Confraternity of Penitents</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-36894204633698106022008-12-23T08:00:00.000-06:002008-12-23T08:00:00.906-06:00Christmas Symbols and Their Meanings, Part 1Over the centuries the wreath and other plants often used during the Christmas season have held a variety of meanings for Christians.<br /><br /><strong>Evergreens.</strong> Evergreens are plants that retain their green leaves or needles all year round. Many pagan cultures worshipped evergreens as symbols of immortality, and used them to ward off evil spirits. Europeans favored the evergreens familiar from German and Celtic solstice festivities. In the cold north evergreens represented light and life at a time of darkness and despair. The torch and plants that stayed green all year were favorite winter symbols. A wreath with burning candles is related to the Yule log burned during the twelve-day Norse winter festival of Jol to bring good luck. For the Swedish festival of St. Lucia, on December 13, each family’s oldest daughter wears a headpiece decorated with greenery and nine lighted candles. Christmas candles may also be related to Hanukkah candles since both festivals celebrate holy light.<br /><br /><strong><em>Laurel.</em></strong> Early Roman Christians used laurel in their Christmas decorations because it symbolized victory, glory, and cleansing from guilt.<br /><br /><strong><em>Holly.</em></strong> European Christians in the Middle Ages believed the prickly leaves and red berries of holly represented thorns and drops of blood. Some Christians also believed that the cross was made of holly wood.<br /><br /><strong><em>Mistletoe.</em></strong> An old Scandanavian custom that enemies who met under mistletoe in the forest were to lay down their weapons and maintain a truce until the following day eventually led to the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. Mistletoe is usually excluded from church greenery partially for that reason, but also because Druids worshiped the plant, believing it could cure diseases.<br /><br /><strong><em><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsSdfire7WAjeRjQFDypaPno-hSo7jTebewCX7-TXTWS6dXxMoQE6FrS4CsxsIt0ZMi9VL5UbIylmwEzvaK4YWKh2MnT4cfCMP2ISnIW5EARxUF47ITYMBYuy5enzQJM07JczDV-1UjH4/s1600-h/Holly+Wreath.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281876447290416946" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 250px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 271px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsSdfire7WAjeRjQFDypaPno-hSo7jTebewCX7-TXTWS6dXxMoQE6FrS4CsxsIt0ZMi9VL5UbIylmwEzvaK4YWKh2MnT4cfCMP2ISnIW5EARxUF47ITYMBYuy5enzQJM07JczDV-1UjH4/s320/Holly+Wreath.jpg" border="0" /></a>Christmas Wreath.</em></strong> The wreath is probably related to circlets worn on the head in cultures such as ancient Persia and Greece. The word wreath comes from an old English word, meaning to writhe or twist. Greens twisted into a circle made “crowns” for kings, military leaders, and athletes. Because wreaths, due to their circular shape, symbolize eternity, the circle of life, and endless hope, people began to decorate their homes with them at Christmas. Because a wreath has neither beginning nor end, but is a continuous circle, it symbolizes God.<br /><br /><strong><em>Poinsettia.</em></strong> The poinsettia may be the only Christmas plant that doesn’t have pagan superstitions attached to it. In 1829 Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, American ambassador to Mexico, introduced poinsettias to this country. Mexicans call it the “flower of Holy Night” because its colorful bracts form a star shape. Mexican legend tells of a poor boy who was afraid to enter the church on a long-ago Christmas Eve because he had no gift to bring baby Jesus. After praying, he looked up to see a poinsettia blooming at his feet and joyfully offered the flower to the Christ Child.<br /><br />Please join me tomorrow for Part 2 of Christmas Symbols and their Meanings!J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-67459812834281936752008-12-22T08:00:00.000-06:002008-12-22T08:00:00.665-06:00Dating Christ’s Birthday<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkRKFpJZKF-WYj898YQ0za7kE-wr8Bf0E13hB9q3XkrSChHexgPdHuRXnr2u7psGx9YtvNR0mwr6m3NUf5-nKbRNdmhsrmdjqq9WjBpNNNiEkc90CkJ2342FTNuySe_O-rZHk5QM5ytG8/s1600-h/iStock_000004792342XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281701004477875586" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 238px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipkRKFpJZKF-WYj898YQ0za7kE-wr8Bf0E13hB9q3XkrSChHexgPdHuRXnr2u7psGx9YtvNR0mwr6m3NUf5-nKbRNdmhsrmdjqq9WjBpNNNiEkc90CkJ2342FTNuySe_O-rZHk5QM5ytG8/s320/iStock_000004792342XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>Obviously the exact date of Christ’s birth has never been credibly established, although there have been a number of attempts to do so. Church leaders early on began to speculate on the actual date of Jesus’ birth, with a number of dates being proposed. Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20, while other church leaders argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) advocated January 2, and others argued for November 17, November 20, and March 25.<br /><br />A Latin treatise written around 243 set the date as March 21, the supposed date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had already followed the same logic in concluding that Christ’s birth and baptism most likely occurred on a Wednesday because God created the sun on the fourth day of the week. But there wasn’t enough evidence available to conclusively prove any of these dates, and there were serious flaws to the calculations behind all of them.<br /><br />So why was December 25 chosen as the date of Jesus’ birth? For one thing, December 25 was sacred not only to the Romans, but also to the Persians, whose religion was one of Christianity’s main rivals during the first century. Some scholars claim that the celebration of the Christ mass was instituted to compete with the pagan traditions that were creeping into the church.<br /><br />From the beginning, celebrating Christmas was controversial. Origen (c.185 to c. 254) preached that the celebration of birthdays was for pagan gods, and that Christ would be dishonored if his birth was celebrated in the same way the pagans honored their rulers. The giving of lavish gifts and excesses of eating and drinking that accompanied pagan celebrations contrasted drastically with the nativity’s simplicity and offended church leaders. Even today, many people condemn these traditions as being contrary to the true spirit of Christmas.<br /><br />Not all of Origen’s contemporaries agreed that Christ’s birthday should not be celebrated, however. In fact, the nativity has been observed in some form since 98 AD, and in 137 the bishop of Rome established it as a solemn feast day. As Christianity spread, individual churches increasingly adapted traditions from some of the pagan winter festivals practiced throughout the Middle East and Europe, such as hanging evergreens and giving presents, for their celebration of Jesus’ birth.<br /><br />For the first three centuries of the Common Era, the celebration of Christ’s birth didn’t take place in December. When individual churches observed the nativity, they usually did so on January 6 during Epiphany, one of the church’s earliest feasts. Western Christians first celebrated the Christ mass on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the empire’s favored religion. That was the date of two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti, the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun,” and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness” whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier.<br /><br />Since pagans already honored deities with some parallels to the true God, church leaders decided to appropriate the date by substituting their own festival. So in 350 AD, Pope Julius I set the observance of the Christ mass on December 25.<br /><br />Although Eastern churches initially held on to January 6 as the date for Christ’s birth and baptism, most eventually also adopted December 25, while still celebrating his baptism on January 6. The Armenian Church continues to celebrate the nativity on January 6, while the Western church designates Epiphany as the date the Magi located the Christ child. The earliest English reference to December 25 as Christmas first appeared in late Old English in 1038 as Cristes Maesse, the Mass of Christ.<br /><br />Many of our traditional Christmas customs appeared during the Middle Ages. The tradition of reenacting the nativity scene was introduced by Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), when on Christmas Eve 1223, he and his companions worshiped in a cave near Greccio, Italy, surrounded by the traditional oxen, sheep, and donkeys. Saint Francis’ friars wrote the first festive songs that became the first Christmas carols. By the fourteenth century, carols were firmly established as a treasured part of the religious observance of Christ’s birthday.<br /><br />Although the pagan origins of the date of Christmas and of many Christmas traditions have caused opposition to the holiday from the beginning, in general the church has viewed efforts to reshape the surrounding secular culture in a positive light. In 320 one theologian wrote, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”<br /><br />And to that, I say, Amen!<br /><br />Tomorrow we’ll talk about our traditional Christmas symbols and their meanings. Be sure to stop by!J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-3072100138736393132008-12-21T08:00:00.001-06:002008-12-21T08:00:02.248-06:00Celebrating Jesus' Birth<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEUHXyDwopwBD2Hu3Mu6CMFBVr1YFcHaKQg3YWOK2dHGDizSXZRZOq1HWixecLGH2KFpGJtVKPVytshuKFCqKcZQZb7YJVFzZ4T5ULhShtvJSRhyo2Vf4stV1w0QWSm5xcHNxrbJt5wbA/s1600-h/iStock_000003847570XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281698149951503378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 212px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEUHXyDwopwBD2Hu3Mu6CMFBVr1YFcHaKQg3YWOK2dHGDizSXZRZOq1HWixecLGH2KFpGJtVKPVytshuKFCqKcZQZb7YJVFzZ4T5ULhShtvJSRhyo2Vf4stV1w0QWSm5xcHNxrbJt5wbA/s320/iStock_000003847570XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a><strong>When Was Jesus Born?</strong><br /><br />There have been a number of theories about when Christ was actually born, but most of the evidence points to either 5 or 4 BC. The Bible records that Jesus was born during Herod’s reign, and Herod died in 4 BC. Consequently, Jesus could not have been born any later than 4 BC.<br /><br />The scriptures also mention a Roman census at the time of Jesus birth. It is known that Herod the Great was a friend of Mark Antony. He, in turn, was on intimate terms with Caesar Augustus, who ordered this census. The census that most closely corresponds to the one mentioned in Luke is the Imperial Citizens Census decreed in 8 BC. Undoubtedly such an extensive census would have taken several years to complete and probably reached Palestine around 6 to 5 BC.<br /><br />If Jesus was born in the winter of 6 BC, he would have been close to two years old when Herod ordered all the baby boys in Bethlehem to be killed not long before he died a painful death in the spring of 4 BC. If Jesus was born in 5 BC, then he would still have been a baby when his parents secretly fled with him to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous designs.<br /><br /><strong>Where Was Jesus Born?</strong><br /><br />Accounts of Jesus’ birth were documented early on. Origen (185-254 AD) wrote that he saw “the grotto with the manger where He [Jesus] was swaddled.” Stone feeding troughs contemporary to Jesus’ time have been excavated in stables in Bethlehem. The grotto that is the traditional birthplace has been saved from destruction several times. The first was because Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) tried to destroy the new Christian religion by building a temple to Adonis there. The result of his efforts was that the grotto was preserved, along with a record of its location and significance.<br /><br />The first full account of a Christmas service at the grotto was written in the fourth century. Aetheria, a nun, described hangings of silk, decorations of gold and jewels, numerous lamps and candelabra, and the chanting of psalms during the sacrament of the Mass.<br /><br /><strong>Who Were the Magi?</strong><br /><br />These unnamed wise men were likely Zoroastrians from Persia. Since they are known to have studied the stars, it would have been natural for them to investigate an astrological phenomenon like the one recorded as announcing Jesus’ birth. It is also very credible that the journey from Persia to Bethlehem could have taken up to two years.<br /><br /><strong>What Was the Star?<br /></strong><br />There are two theories that may identify the star the Magi followed to Bethlehem .<br /><br />First, in December of 7 BC there was a confluence of Jupiter and Saturn. By February of 6 BC Mars was in close proximity to the two planets. Astrologically, this is known as Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces. To the ancients, Jupiter represented the greatest of the gods, while the sign of Pisces (the fish) would indicate that a very important ruler was to be born.<br /><br />The second possibility is a comet that appeared for about seventy days in the late winter or early spring of 5-4 BC. Another comet then appeared in March of 4 BC. The Greek term for star is aster, which can be interpreted as any astrological phenomenon. That makes either of these comets also a possibility for the star that announced Jesus’ birth, especially since they would have been visible from Persia and would have appeared to be traveling westward.<br /><br />Paul L. Maier suggests that the configuration of Jupiter with Saturn in 7-6 BC alerted the Magi that a new ruler would soon be born. Then when the comet of 5 BC appeared with its brilliant light, it is very believable that they would have followed it. Maier also believes that when Herod questioned the Magi about when they first saw the star, they described the astrological sign they had observed two years earlier. This would explain why Herod had all the baby boys in Bethlehem less than two years old killed.<br /><br />Tomorrow I’m going to talk about how the church set the official date of Christ’s birth. Please join me!J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-62035735498385454062008-12-19T22:50:00.000-06:002008-12-19T22:50:00.376-06:00A Christmas Primer<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc4UdbBkN3tJ-0TpVZ7uWGYH362-nooQ0cD7qriOOxEvAUvkGpn7cez6Thu8hRbiTW9CUTCKyEdoXjFizWyCCZG9wpL76lHdCmYh5L36lyE5pezvykWP2cqfh2YEC83uWMzsWPvF3k845/s1600-h/iStock_000004399687XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281686949787379522" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 230px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoc4UdbBkN3tJ-0TpVZ7uWGYH362-nooQ0cD7qriOOxEvAUvkGpn7cez6Thu8hRbiTW9CUTCKyEdoXjFizWyCCZG9wpL76lHdCmYh5L36lyE5pezvykWP2cqfh2YEC83uWMzsWPvF3k845/s320/iStock_000004399687XSmall%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>And a very hearty HO HO HO to everyone!! It’s the season to be merry so, in the true spirit of Christmas past, for the next few days I’m going to delve into some little-known aspects of the history, traditions, and symbols of the Christmas celebration. We’ll get back to the Great Awakening after New Year’s Day.<br /><br />Let’s start off with an overview of ancient festivities that bear some similarity to our modern-day celebration of Jesus’ birth.<br /><br /><strong>Ancient Winter Celebrations</strong><br /><br />Many of the traditions reflected in our contemporary Christmas celebrations are actually over 4,000 years old, dating to a time long before the Christ child was born. Traditions such as the twelve days of Christmas, the Yule log, giving gifts, parades, carolers, and holiday feasts can be traced as far back as Mesopotamian New Year’s celebrations.<br /><br />The Mesopotamians believed that each year as winter arrived, their chief god, Marduk, battled the monsters of chaos. During their New Year’s festival, Zagmuk, which lasted for twelve days, the Mesopotamian king would visit the temple of Marduk to swear his allegiance to the god. According to Mesopotamian tradition, the king would die at the end of the year and return with Marduk to battle at his side. To spare their king from death, the Mesopotamians chose a criminal, dressed him in royal clothes, and gave him all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the mock king was slain as a sacrifice to spare the life of the real king. The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea in which slaves became the masters and their masters had to obey them.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8PVwDz_-WU8ZG9OPB2V1nFNXfXXkNzuBxwk2BebUf3e2IwHni__ECXSwtHmuWUOyzLsZ0MP4EtDqbnp0UEwhLrlsLh6cK6Wl8QrDbRNJEMjWvcRrJq7TN_fbmpFYrm52k6SIWoNBK4M7/s1600-h/14mithra%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5281682891533159410" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 158px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI8PVwDz_-WU8ZG9OPB2V1nFNXfXXkNzuBxwk2BebUf3e2IwHni__ECXSwtHmuWUOyzLsZ0MP4EtDqbnp0UEwhLrlsLh6cK6Wl8QrDbRNJEMjWvcRrJq7TN_fbmpFYrm52k6SIWoNBK4M7/s200/14mithra%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>In Phrygia the birth of the sun-god Attis was celebrated on December 25th, as was the birth of the Persian sun-god Mithras (photo). The ancient Greeks held a similar festival to assist their god Kronos in his battle with Zeus and his Titans. From December 17 to 24 Romans celebrated the Saturnalia in honor of Saturn, the god of peace and plenty. They decked their homes with garlands of laurel and with green trees lighted with candles. Both slaves and masters participated in masquerades, banquets, and visiting and exchanged good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).<br /><br />Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts, and trolls. In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. As the winter solstice approached, special rituals and celebrations were held to ensure that the sun would return. After thirty-five days scouts would go to the mountaintops to watch for the sun’s return. When they saw the first light, the Yuletide festival began with a special feast that included the burning of the Yule log, a part of the Scandanavians’ worship of vegetation and fire associated with magical and spiritual powers.<br /><br />People also lit great bonfires to celebrate the sun’s return. In some areas they tied apples to tree branches as a reminder that spring and summer would return. The Celts of the British Isles revered all green plants, but particularly mistletoe and holly. Important symbols of fertility, these plants were used for decorating homes and altars.<br /><br />Tomorrow we’ll take a look at how the celebration of Christ’s birthday came about.J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-20367208246644673122008-11-23T21:21:00.000-06:002008-11-23T21:43:15.548-06:00Our American Heritage: A Day for Giving Thanks<em><span style="font-size:85%;">Lamp of History will continue the series on the First Great Awakening with the next post, following Thanksgiving.</span></em><br /><br />The earliest attested Thanksgiving Day on American soil actually took place at what is now St. Augustine, Florida, on September 8, 1565. Most Americans, however, consider our first Thanksgiving to be the three-day celebration at Plymouth Plantation after the colonists’ first harvest in the fall of 1621, in which native peoples from the area joined. The first Thanksgiving observance recorded in this country took place on June 29, 1671, at Charlestown, Massachusetts, by proclamation of the town’s governing council.<br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272063712113536594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 245px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5J20A0fZIlWHi-zrvGOo9P_mW0_iApne8Vx3ybMuasrBIN1vWQvEQY_xB5y4IX4Ex1Yi_42_bsEloQ1ekXezpkPXtQCHFULmsalZQPiFtBQjSglu2MZhIsUa7pR2YY6IwO1jUP46-Oj65/s320/The_First_Thanksgiving_Jean_Louis_Gerome_Ferris%5B1%5D.png" border="0" /><br />During the 1700s, it was common practice for individual colonies to observe days of Thanksgiving at different times during the year. Two hundred years ago a day for thanksgiving would be set aside as a time for prayer and fasting, not for indulging in an abundance of food and drink, as is our custom today. Each of the states periodically designated a Thanksgiving Day in honor of the adoption of a state constitution, an exceptionally bountiful harvest, or a military victory—such as that celebrated on December 18, 1777, in gratitude for the surrender of British General Burgoyne to American forces at Saratoga, when, according to the Continental Congress:<br /><br />“. . . at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express their grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please God through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole.” (<em>Quoted in </em>World <em>magazine [November 15-22, 2008, p. 9</em>])<br /><br />On October 3, 1789, George Washington designated the first official national Thanksgiving Day during his first year as President. The decree set aside Thursday, November 26, as “a Day of Publick Thanksgiving and Prayer.” The text of the decree appears below.<br /><br />In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the middle of the 19th century many other states followed suit by celebrating a Thanksgiving Day. Finally, on October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the last Thursday of November as a national day of Thanksgiving. The text appears below. Since then every president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.<br /><br />In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November in order to boost the economy by extending the Christmas shopping season. After a storm of protest, he changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it remains today.<br /><div align="center"><br /><strong>First National Thanksgiving Day Proclamation</strong></div><br /><div align="center">General Thanksgiving<br />By the PRESIDENT of the United States of America<br />A PROCLAMATION </div><br /><div align="left">WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”<br /><br />NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;—for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;—for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;—and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.<br /><br />And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;—to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.<br /><br />GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine. </div><br /><div align="left">(signed) G. Washington<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789</span></em></div><br /><div align="center"><strong></strong></div><div align="center"><strong>Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln</strong></div><br /><div>The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.<br /><br />No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.<br /><br />It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.<br /><br />In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.</div><br /><div>Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth."<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Source: Thanksgiving (United States), Wikipedia</em></span></div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-36946555248274509852008-10-24T13:11:00.000-05:002008-10-24T13:41:50.143-05:00Religious Revivals: The First Great Awakening<div>The first Great Awakening was a religious revival that swept through the American colonies between the 1730s and the 1770s. It was part of a much larger movement that took place in Europe at the same time, primarily in England, Scotland, and Germany. </div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbXdsul-_JjwdP32t7ZfoS8KXGQCc4ZL7nRG0qz1GPWmmJ0faC-wNrzcse-L5X73llCtEQEfoMk3CRbyk2zs3uGRUfmRN1a1k2sEByRAzdH1DbRQAkprUkVoEZrGH-ToaNE-No7ssrBAg/s1600-h/Jonathan_Edwards%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260792118505416930" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 306px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfbXdsul-_JjwdP32t7ZfoS8KXGQCc4ZL7nRG0qz1GPWmmJ0faC-wNrzcse-L5X73llCtEQEfoMk3CRbyk2zs3uGRUfmRN1a1k2sEByRAzdH1DbRQAkprUkVoEZrGH-ToaNE-No7ssrBAg/s320/Jonathan_Edwards%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>Signs of revival first appeared in Pennsylvania and New Jersey among the Presbyterians, under the preaching of William Tennent, a Scots-Irish immigrant, and his four clergy sons. It soon spread to the New England Congregationalists (Puritans) and Baptists. By the 1740s, the revival was sweeping through the entire region, fueled by emotional sermons like Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which described the sinner like a loathsome spider who hung suspended by a thread over a pit of boiling brimstone.</div><div><br />One of the most effective and widely known preachers of the time was George Whitefield, who had allied with John and Charles Wesley to lead a reform movement within the Church of England that eventually became the Methodist Church. Beginning in 1739, Whitefield traveled to the colonies to preach several times, often attracting audiences so large he had to preach outdoors. </div><div><br />The success of these emotional sermons aroused opposition from both conservative and moderate clergy, who charged that the revivals disrupted church and community life. They especially opposed the itinerant preachers who traveled from one community to another to hold revival services because they often criticized the local clergy. The fact that not only women, but also African Americans spoke at these meetings especially outraged the opposition. Congregations and entire denominations split over the revivalists’ challenge to clerical authority and over the evangelical call for conversion from the heart rather than from the head.<br /></div><br /><div><strong><em>Related Links</em></strong></div><br /><div></div><div><a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/religion.html">The Role of Religion in Colonial and Early America</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/erelrev.htm">Religion and the American Revolution</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.great-awakening.com/concepts.htm">The Great Awakening</a></div><br /><div><em>Coming up:</em> How the First Great Awakening Influenced the American Revolution</div>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-6687539327031923772008-10-13T18:54:00.000-05:002008-10-13T19:12:38.377-05:00America's First War on Terror: Muslims in Government<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfEWm2q2BoBtR9gRw8hy7a3UzKta9vePR6WjbSvJI51BPPFHoD1vlLkEK3eu3cSXFHIGRZKOVtreh2OG2G5dQKhLAEyItLkGPK_Wbb8rp0S3IoaLOnrFs7ULgeKjUmbRfxLo-B57qsqT3/s1600-h/constitution_1%5B1%5D.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256794299841823442" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfEWm2q2BoBtR9gRw8hy7a3UzKta9vePR6WjbSvJI51BPPFHoD1vlLkEK3eu3cSXFHIGRZKOVtreh2OG2G5dQKhLAEyItLkGPK_Wbb8rp0S3IoaLOnrFs7ULgeKjUmbRfxLo-B57qsqT3/s320/constitution_1%5B1%5D.jpg" border="0" /></a>Between 1787 and 1790, while the Constitution was being written, and then ratified, attacks by Muslim terrorists against America were already longstanding. Citizens of the new nation were understandably concerned about the possibility that Muslims might be elected to federal office under their new Constitution. This concern originated from Article VI of the Constitution, which states that Senators and Representatives are “bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”<br /><br />Specifically raised was the question of whether the prohibition of a religious test meant that Muslims could be elected to federal office. The writers and ratifiers of the Constitution made it clear that could only happen if it was the will of the people of a district. In the North Carolina ratifying convention, Governor Samuel Johnston explained that “if the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves. Another case is if any persons of such descriptions should, notwithstanding their religion, acquire the confidence and esteem of the people of America by their good conduct and practice of virtue, they may be chosen.”<br /><br />Supreme Court Justice James Iredell, who was nominated to the Court by President Washington, wrote that “it is objected that the people of America may perhaps choose representatives who have no religion at all, and that pagans and Mahometans may be admitted into offices. . . . But it is never to be supposed that the people of America will trust their dearest rights to persons who have no religion at all, or a religion materially different from their own.”<br /><br />In 1837 a court opinion stated: “The distinction is a sound one between a religion preferred by law, and a religion preferred by the people without the coercion of law—between a legal establishment which the present constitution expressly forbids . . . and a religious creed freely chosen by the people for themselves.” In other words, although the Framers of the Constitution prohibited the federal government from applying any religious test, they left the voters completely free to do so.<br /><br />For more information, go to <a href="http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=384">Wallbuilders</a>.<br /><br /><strong><em>Coming up is a series on the Great Awakening!</em></strong>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-31516359042583840192008-10-01T20:35:00.000-05:002008-10-01T21:37:47.485-05:00America's First War on Terror: The Halls of Tripoli<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05bVY5xGZgl3E_b92BsDBWNZTS2C07nHqCWW8M5PNBTvQ3YcWW0r7QFc_OPI5t7m6nqhko63BWscwg5x5V5jr6ppPKxVa-jBs5ntO9E_NMa-_SEbD9ijWRJlg4GgBfby-2SuYkkxyXRFV/s1600-h/Corsair.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5252378654647706562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05bVY5xGZgl3E_b92BsDBWNZTS2C07nHqCWW8M5PNBTvQ3YcWW0r7QFc_OPI5t7m6nqhko63BWscwg5x5V5jr6ppPKxVa-jBs5ntO9E_NMa-_SEbD9ijWRJlg4GgBfby-2SuYkkxyXRFV/s320/Corsair.jpg" border="0" /></a>The United States’ policy of appeasement only succeeded in persuading the Barbary Powers that Americans were weak. They came to see American targets as especially attractive, and attacks against the American ships increased dramatically. By the time Thomas Jefferson became President in 1801, he concluded that there were only three solutions: continue to acquiesce to the Barbary Powers’ extortion, restrict American ships to American waters, or go to war. Once inaugurated, he cut off tribute payments to the Barbary nations.<br /><br />In response Tripoli declared war against the United States. Jefferson appointed General William Eaton to lead an American military expedition against the four terrorist nations. Faced with the new United States Navy and a large contingent of American Marines, all the Barbary Powers except Tripoli backed down. In 1805, after four years of fighting, Eaton succeeded in crushing the terrorist forces and freeing the captured seamen. Tripoli surrendered on America’s terms, and our troops returned home.<br /><br />The region remained quiet for only a short time. In 1807 Muslim Algiers once more began attacking American ships and sailors. Preoccupied with a looming war with both Great Britain and France, Jefferson was unable to respond. When James Madison took office, the crisis that led to the War of 1812 made it impossible for him to spare naval forces to oppose terrorist attacks in the Mediterranean.<br /><br />When the war with the British ended in 1815, however, Madison quickly dispatched warships commanded by Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge against Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Algiers was forced to the peace table in July 1815, where they ratified a treaty freeing all enslaved Christians and putting an end to this despicable practice. No sooner had the American fleet sailed for Tunis, however, than Algiers renounced the treaty. In short order the fleets of Great Britain and the Netherlands persuaded that country to sign a new peace treaty, which was ratified in December 1816. After thirty-two years of conflict and six years of armed warfare, attacks by Muslim terrorists against the United States and other Christian nations at last dwindled.<br /><br />Throughout the conflict, Muslims viewed their terrorist actions as a holy war against Christians. In contrast, numerous treaties with the Barbary Pirates stated that the United States held no “enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility” of the Muslims, and that even substantial differences of religious opinion would not “produce an interruption of the harmony between the two nations” on America’s part. The United States did not fight a religious war against Muslims, but rather to end the terrorism of the Muslim states against America.<br /><br />For further information, go to <a href="http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=384">Wallbuilders </a>and <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cindyvallar.com/Barbarycorsair.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cindyvallar.com/barbarycorsairs.html&h=720&w=427&sz=77&hl=en&start=5&sig2=rtx8tRYH4rMeH63Wr3VswA&usg=__hCMdb87BAVZ6IQ9aSDzu-CXBf3w=&tbnid=AwmbAiEU8x9LAM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=83&ei=L_nfSOnBIp6Y8wSI2MT6Dg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcorsairs%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den">Pirates and Privateers</a>.<br /><br /><strong><em>Coming next:</em> America's First War Against Terror: Muslims in Government</strong>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-892972345611134792.post-48530384564489981992008-09-28T16:28:00.000-05:002008-09-28T16:53:55.220-05:00America’s First War on Terror: The Barbary PiratesThere’s an old saying that history often repeats itself. An illustration relevant to Americans today is that the first war the United States fought as an independent nation was a war against Islamic terrorists. The Barbary Powers War lasted thirty-two years, through the presidencies of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. It included 6 years of military action against Muslim terrorists overseas.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV6fURMD0TskLXTWWuNyFIcOQzT6m9B-QDyg5GK9QGkqqi0DOl-pzyDUU43jS_mCVujGfjI13y_cleNDgBY-r1fjFicLmGwGU3DIB_3H5vR8TnsPLIQro9o5LnPw6DCjL4BcVl_F_m11lp/s1600-h/Enterprise+fighting+Corsair.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5251191133064347298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV6fURMD0TskLXTWWuNyFIcOQzT6m9B-QDyg5GK9QGkqqi0DOl-pzyDUU43jS_mCVujGfjI13y_cleNDgBY-r1fjFicLmGwGU3DIB_3H5vR8TnsPLIQro9o5LnPw6DCjL4BcVl_F_m11lp/s320/Enterprise+fighting+Corsair.jpg" border="0" /></a>During the American Revolution four Muslim nations in the Mediterranean—Tunis, Morocco, Algiers, and Tripoli—initiated indiscriminate attacks against “Christian” nations. When the United States disbanded its army and navy following the Revolution, American merchant and civilian ships became vulnerable to hostile powers. The Barbary Pirates not only seized the cargo of captured ships, but also enslaved their seamen, subjecting them to brutal treatment, and American ships and seamen became a prime target.<br /><br />In 1784 John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson were authorized by Congress to negotiate with the Barbary Powers. Adams and Jefferson asked the ambassador from Tripoli the reason for attacks against American shipping. He responded that it was the right and duty of Muslims to make war on all nations that didn’t acknowledge the authority of Islamic law and to enslave prisoners, adding that every Muslim killed in battle would go to Paradise.<br /><br />With this incentive so many Christians were enslaved by Muslims that French Catholics developed a ministry to raise funds to ransom captured seamen who had been sold into slavery. The trade in ransom soon became highly profitable for Muslim terrorists.<br /><br />During President Washington’s administration, American diplomats repeatedly negotiated treaties of Peace and Amity with the Muslim Barbary Powers in an effort to ensure protection for American ships in the Mediterranean. These often officially recognized the Muslim religion in order to halt the escalation of Holy War.<br /><br />Under these treaties, the United States was forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in “tribute” to each of the Barbary nations. In 1795 tribute just to Algiers totaled almost one million dollars, and by the last year of Washington’s administration, sixteen percent of the federal budget was going to the Barbary Pirates. The United States was forced to obtain a loan from Holland to cover what had become a substantial economic burden.<br /><br />President Washington considered paying extortion money to terrorists a disgrace. In his last year in office he urged Congress to fund a navy to defend America’s interests at sea. The Department of the Navy was created in 1798 under President John Adams; however, Adams was reluctant to use military force, fearing the people wouldn’t support it.<br /><br />Thomas Jefferson disagreed, believing that the economic impact of tribute payments to Muslim terrorists and growing resentment against their unprovoked attacks would eventually gain popular support for taking military action. In time he proved to be right.<br /><br /><strong><em>Coming up in our next post: America's First War On Terror: The Halls of Tripoli</em></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">For further information, go to </span><a href="http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=384"><span style="font-size:85%;">Wallbuilders</span></a> <span style="font-size:85%;">and <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cindyvallar.com/Barbarycorsair.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cindyvallar.com/barbarycorsairs.html&h=720&w=427&sz=77&hl=en&start=5&sig2=rtx8tRYH4rMeH63Wr3VswA&usg=__hCMdb87BAVZ6IQ9aSDzu-CXBf3w=&tbnid=AwmbAiEU8x9LAM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=83&ei=L_nfSOnBIp6Y8wSI2MT6Dg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcorsairs%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den">Pirates and Privateers</a>.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>J. M. Hochstetlerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07291602346312967152noreply@blogger.com0