Message
Message Recap
Should Christians vote? Does the legislation of our government really affect our lives that much?
With an important election approaching, Pastor Miles gave the floor to David Barton, a historian of America who gave us incredible insight on Christianity and the American government.
Our Founding Fathers
Did you know that every Fourth of July, we celebrate the world's longest running constitution? The United States is the only country in the world to still operate under its original constitution; all the other countries have revised or rewritten their constitutions.
But David Barton asks the important question of why the United States constitution has been so successful. This question has been asked by many people for many years, but was first answered by John Adams, our second president, who responded with "who" rather than "why." Adams named a list of preachers who gave sermons on the freedoms of men. Our foundational documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, are both based on the teachings of the Bible.
Church and State
So what about the separation of church and state? Church and state were separated early on by our founding fathers in an attempt to ensure the freedom of worship without governmental interference, as they did not have this freedom under English rule. But, as you are probably aware, the separation of church and state has drifted from its original intention to protect the church. It has been twisted the other direction so that government is not allowing the church to be exposed at all.
In June of 1963, Bibles were removed from our schools, but it was actually Congress that placed Bibles in the classrooms almost as soon as the Revolutionary War was over. This is the same Congress that opened its sessions with two hours of prayer and the study of four chapters of the Bible. Recently, many scholars have come out to say that our founding fathers were not godly men, however, David Barton showed document after document to support that our founders were entrenched in Biblical teachings. To learn more about American history and the Bible, visit WallBuilders.com.
Voting is a God-Given Right
David Barton then pointed out that even the concept of voting is biblically based. Article 4 of the Bill of Rights is derived from Exodus 18:21, which states that we are entrusted by God to be active in our government. Even so, between the years 1992 and 2000 the number of Christian voters declined, and as a result, so did our representation in Congress. The figures shared during David Barton's message were staggering - evidence of the desperate need for Christianity to be represented at the polls.
David Barton ended with the story of talents, in which Jesus told the tale of three men who where given money by their master and told to produce with it. You may recall that the third man did nothing with his allotment and received a verbal lashing for his inaction. By us not participating in our own free government, we aren't tending to what has been given to us. And if we don't tend to our garden, someone else will, and it is unlikely to produce fruit that we will enjoy.
