Exploring America's Christian Heritage (Ep. 113)

Episode Transcript
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Unknown (01:02):
Alright. Hey, folks.
This
is Joe Rooz. It is great
to be with you once again,
and we are coming to you live on this beautiful Sunday afternoon
from the asylum studios
deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas
and bringing you the best quality talk radio we could muster

(01:25):
without all the bluster.
Folks, this is the Joe Russo,
and you are receiving this transmission at
eighteen
zero three hours on Sunday, July
2023.
Alright, my friends.

(01:46):
Hope you guys have been having a good weekend.
It's been a beautiful weekend here in Eagle Bass,
strangely enough.
Usually, it's, a million and a half degrees with,
lots and lots of sunshine but we had some overcast weather the last couple of days.

(02:08):
So, it's been kinda nice,
enjoyed it.
But tonight, folks, it is our Sunday show and we are going to, get into
our study
of the word of God tonight.
Well, Friday was Independence Day,

(02:30):
as you guys already probably know that.
It's the day that,
the,
the American Union
celebrates its inception
two hundred fifty years ago.
And,
you know, I think that if our founding generation
woke up today
and, paid us a visit, I think they would be

(02:51):
horrified,
absolutely horrified
at what we have done
with this republic
that they had left us.
Absolutely horrified.
There was so much governmental overreach in everyday life. There's so much,

(03:12):
struggle,
within the the the the party systems in this country to to to put America
first.
Even in the party that rep that that claims to represent America first doesn't put America first.
Now there are those within that movement that are trying their hardest to do that, and,

(03:35):
you know, we we we certainly
applaud them for the work that they're trying to do.
But my friends,
folks,
the vast majority of politicians
today
are only seeking to put themselves first,

(03:55):
to line their pockets.
And it's a sad, sad thing
when you really consider
it. Very, very sad.
Well,
tonight on our show, what we're gonna do is we and we mentioned this,

(04:15):
couple of days ago.
We are going to take some time to study
America's
Christian
heritage. You hear so much that America was not a founded as a Christian country, a Christian nation. America,
secular, and America is not Christian in any way, shape, or form, which is absolutely

(04:36):
ridiculous.
And all you need to do is go back and look at what the founding generation themselves
had to say about
the founding of America.
Their reliance on God,
their reliance on divine providence, their reliance

(04:57):
on,
on prayer, supplication to God, their reliance on the word of God.
And we're gonna examine that over the next, believe it or not, several weeks. Several weeks. It's probably gonna take us about,
maybe eight to ten weeks of study to get through all of this, and it's it's a worthy study. So I hope you stick around. I hope you you stay with it, and, I hope you learn something from it about the history, the heritage

(05:26):
of this
American union.
Now this past Friday, we had a great conversation, two and a half hours
with, doctor doctor Gregory Adaka,
who,
amazing amazing stories, incredibly smart incredibly smart man,

(05:46):
a medical doctor, emergency room physician,
a scientist,
and a Christian.
And we had a lot of time, we had a lot of fun, we had a lot of good fellowship,
around the subject matter of of the interview, and that was talking about,
his experiences in the medical world, the, the health care industrial complex.

(06:06):
We had some great discussions about that. It was a lot of fun. We also had a we also had a lot of, a lot of good conversation over the word of God, over over the cross of Jesus Christ, and that was over that's what that was a blessing, and it's in and of itself. And we probably could have went on and on and on.
But, of course, you know, time was getting away from us, and it was, it was getting late into the evening, so we needed to wrap it. But, hopefully, you know, one of these days we'll get him back on again. We'll continue that story because I really wanted to hear about his his experience as a Christian apologetics,

(06:38):
or apologeticist,
and then, also about his missionary work. It was really look I really wanna get back into that kind of stuff. It was, fascinating to talk to him. And, you know, one of the things that we talked about too is that, you know, we did not agree on everything. There was some aspects of our conversation that we had to, kind of agree to disagree on, and that's fine, and that's fine. And and one of the points that we brought up was, even though there are disagreements, we need to keep talking. We need to keep talking about these things, and that is so important, and that's a message that I would love to get to the folks in Washington DC.

(07:11):
That's that's a message I'd love to get to folks here at the Texas State House.
We need to keep talking,
and work our way through the differences that we have, and we need to put
America first,
but even more importantly, we gotta put Texas first, here in Texas.
Just like California needs to put California first, and and and,

(07:33):
you know, Louisiana, Louisiana first, and every state should be putting their interests
ahead of
any other.
And, that's the message that we're gonna,
you know, hopefully
relay in the days and weeks ahead.
Now coming up this week, we also have, we have two interviews scheduled tomorrow. So tomorrow's show is gonna be all interview day, providing that our guests are, are still committed. And, we'll we'll confirm on those,

(08:01):
tomorrow.
But, in the first hour tomorrow, we're gonna have Pasquale
Mingarelli,
an author, a speaker, and a photographer that helps draw people nearer to God. And then in the second hour, we're gonna have Marissa Lee, who is a crypto psychic, which absolutely intrigued me. We had a great conversation
a couple of weeks ago, and,

(08:22):
had wonderful conversation, and I think it's gonna be a great time of fellowship, a great time of conversation,
and very informative
very informative about
cryptocurrencies,
about trends in cryptocurrencies.
It's gonna be just a great conversation. I think we're gonna have a good time with that, So I hope you guys can tune in for that. That'll be the second hour,
tomorrow's show. So seven to eight,

(08:44):
Pasquale,
Mingarelli, and,
from eight to nine, we have Marissa Lee. So make sure you tune in tomorrow right here
on the Joe Ruse show. Just go to rumble.com/joeroos
or head over to our website joeroos.com
if you wanna get just get the audio version,
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Very, very pleased, by the way. And thank you to all of those,
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(09:30):
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Alright. Now,
what we're gonna do here is we're gonna take a very short break, and then when we come back from this break, we could get into our study

(12:51):
of, America's
Christian heritage. Folks, this is
a live show.
Monday,
well, let's just say weeknights
from 7PM,
Sunday at 6PM, Saturday 3PM.
There's always something for us to do here on the show, and, we're gonna have a great time doing it. So make sure you check it out, and, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share, and we'll be back right after this very very very very very short break.

(13:31):
Up and down,
counting out,
but they don't know I ain't in this ring alone.

(13:57):
I'm a fighter.
No one can say that I'm

(15:48):
yeah.
I'm a fighter.

(16:17):
Alright folks, we are back.
You know, I needed to take that break because
I forgot something extremely
extremely important
and that is my coffee.
So, I need to go get my coffee. Sorry about that. I wasn't really planning on taking a break there. That's why I was a little kinda sloppy doing it, but

(16:43):
needed to go get my coffee. I don't have a production crew in here to go run it and get it for me, so
it's all good. It is all good.
You know, I was talking earlier about
American history and,
America's Christian heritage.

(17:04):
And, you know, I I remember when I was back in school and I had to take,
American history.
And I'm I'm I know all of us at one point had to do that. That's, you know, it was part of the core curriculum at least in most schools.
But, you know, what do do you know what the problem is with most of American history?

(17:26):
The problem really is most mostly with American history is that 99%
of the American history teachers
are about as
dull as dirt, to be to be quite honest. And I'm and I'm gonna try my best not to be dull as I'm going through some of this stuff because American history really is exciting when you when you dig into it and you really explore it for what it is. And you don't take what the mainstream media, what the mainstream,

(17:50):
education system
throws at you.
Because a lot of what you're being taught in schools,
a lot of what our kids were taught are being taught in schools is just flat out wrong. The best thing that you can do, and we'll we'll come to it
in a little bit, but
the best thing that you can do

(18:11):
is go back
and actually read what the founding generation said.
Read what the framer said, even I mean, good night. Even go back to,
to when the the pilgrims came here from Holland.
What governor Bradford had to say about
their purposes for coming here, you're told that it's about, it was about religious persecution.

(18:34):
No, not really.
Not really. Go back and read what governor Bradford said.
Go back and read what they said about why they came to America.
And I'm gonna try to relay that to you because like I said, about 99% of American history teachers are just boring.
They make the subject matter completely uninteresting.

(18:56):
That's the problem, and and and because of that,
they never really gain attention of the students. You know, I've had several several American history teachers, and they were all
boring.
So the problem was of course, you know, history never really captured my attention
until I got to college.

(19:17):
When I got to college, I had a history professor, name was doctor Berger.
Doctor Berger was amazing. Doctor Berger
never had a note,
never had a a binder or anything they would come into class with,
and he would get he would get up there on that platform in front of the gallery of students, and it was a pretty large gallery,

(19:39):
for the most part.
And then, he would just take off, man. He just take off forty five minutes, fifty minutes,
you know, you know, whatever it was. I mean, sometimes it it it seemed to just fly by because he made it so interesting.
Because what he would do is he would get up there, and again, no notes, no no
no computer, no tablets, nothing.

(19:59):
Just
just right from the top of the head, he just fired off like a rocket.
He was up there rattling off names,
rattling off dates, statistics.
And he said, why that's not that's boring stuff. No, not the way he did
it. Not the way the way he did it, he did it in such a way that it absolutely captured your attention.

(20:23):
And what he would do is he would go from one end of the platform to the other end of the platform. He would just go across that lecture hall, and as he was going, he was shooting arrows and and he was loading the catapults back, you know, cranking them things back.
He made it exciting.
He was doing everything. He was he was actually even making the battle noises. You know?

(20:45):
It it was just absolutely amazing. It was great.
And for the first time in my life,
I I say, you know history is pretty exciting.
History could be really interesting.
And that further
developed
as I got older,
and in the early two thousands.

(21:09):
There were some great people that I listened to that that studied,
like I said, not only what of course they're taught in school, and not only be not only what they've been taught by watching,
like Discovery Channel and things like that, but they actually
went back to the framers. They went back to
the pilgrims. They went back to

(21:31):
the original settlements here in the in this country.
You know, a wise man once said that, the only thing that men learn from history is that men don't learn from history.
I'm gonna repeat that. Alright. Because it's profound.
It is absolutely profound.

(21:51):
I say it all the time. I use it all the time. The only thing that men learn from history is that men don't learn from history.
There is a lot of truth to that.
A lot of truth.
I was reading some material,
on our early American history about our declaration of independence.

(22:11):
And and did you know that there are 27
specific things that our founding fathers listed
that they thought were grievous,
that that they thought were just foisted upon them by the king of England.
And so that was their complaint.
That was and and and of course that their appeal to the crown.

(22:34):
As I was going through that list, and you could do it too, don't take my word for it, just do it. Just get yourself a copy of the declaration of independence.
And you know something?
Get yourself a copy, like a hard copy, a paper copy.
Get a book.
Yeah. Because you can go online, you could read those you could read those things online, you you you have access to it now, but you know, someday they could just pull that switch and shut it down, and you'll have no access to our founding documents once again once, ever again.

(23:04):
Same thing with the Bible.
Had this conversation earlier today. They're great to have on your phone. They're great to have those digital copies. Fantastic. That it's it's wonderful
to have it at your fingertips just to touch it, and you got it, and go.
But you know that there's this thing called wrong think.

(23:26):
And if you don't know what that is, look it up.
But there's gonna come a time, folks, where the government's gonna say, you know what?
You can't have that. You can't read that. We don't want you reading your Bible because when you read your Bible, it brings liberty, not not necessarily to your to your physical self, but to your spirit.
It brings liberty. It brings life.

(23:49):
And there's coming a time, folks, where the government is going to take that away from you. So get yourself copies. Get yourself hard copies.
Get as many as you possibly can. I have, I don't even know, thirty, forty bibles?
People think you're crazy, but keep them. You're gonna need them someday. Your children are gonna need, your grandchildren are gonna need them.

(24:15):
I kinda went off the track there for a second, but
we said there were 27 things that our founding generation, our founding fathers listed
that they thought were grievous,
and they made their appeal
to the king of England.
Now of those 27, I easily was able to identify at least 14 of those 27

(24:37):
that are in existence right now.
Right now.
In the part of our government.
Now if I were teaching a history class, what I would do is I would I would tell my students, I would say,
here's a copy of the Declaration of Independence, you identify how many of those things

(24:58):
are relevant today,
and why are they relevant?
That would be a pretty good assignment, you know? I think so. It'd be an excellent assignment.
Well, the declaration of independence is one thing,
July
1776,
but

(25:19):
there are a lot
of events that led up to that,
that the majority of American people don't know about,
which is a shame.
Now, I'm sure, you know, a lot of folks have have heard about things like the Boston massacre,
and they've heard about the fields of Lexington,
Concord, Bunker Hill, Breed's Hill,

(25:40):
but they really don't know anything about them,
at least not really.
But there's an element to all of that that's not contained in any secular history book,
and that's the part that we're gonna concentrate
some of our attention on tonight and in the days and weeks ahead as we study this out because there is a spiritual element here. There's a spiritual ingredient

(26:05):
that needs to be understood by God's people, and I think it's it's it's very important
that we do understand it. We need to understand it. You know, you separate people from their history, and and that's been a that's been a huge
that's been a huge part of the secularists,
of the globalists
over the last
fifty plus years to separate us from our history.

(26:30):
And when you do that, you don't have those foundational roots to go back and disable, hey. Wait a minute here. What about that?
What about this?
You know, we've been told lie after lie after lie about our forefathers,
about what they actually believed in, or what they didn't believe in.

(26:53):
And you know folks, all you have to do is just a little bit of research,
just a little bit of study, and you could find the truth.
It I mean, it's it's really it's not like those things are hidden in a closet
or or in secret. It's just that most people absolutely never bother to check
or to look these things up themselves.

(27:14):
I I, I suppose that one of the great examples of of American character back in colonial days was an occasion that was called the Boston Massacre that took place,
was it March
1770?
03/05/1770.
I I think that's the right date.
Now,

(27:35):
I know it was 1770,
but I might be off on the date, on the specific date, but regardless that's that's that's six years before the declaration of independence.
Six years.
And there were a lot of things that took place prior to that.
But for for our purposes tonight, that's where we're gonna launch this ship from. That's where we're gonna start from tonight.

(27:57):
1770.
March 1770, it was one particularly
snowy night when captain Thomas Preston and the squad of the British redcoats, or British regulars
were confronted by an angry mob of patriots,
who were fed up with the growing presence
of the English in their city.

(28:19):
And,
so,
these big chunks of ice were thrown at them, a lot of a lot of there was a lot of name calling,
and, you know, just just just kind of a riot really took place,
you know, you know, right there on that spot.
And one of the British soldiers was actually knocked to the ground, and a gun accidentally went off.

(28:41):
And when that happened, everything went,
basically to hell in a hand basket.
And because of that, five Americans were killed, and, two of the British were slightly wounded,
but, the British soldiers were arrested.
They were arrested, and they were put in a Massachusetts jail,

(29:02):
and they had to go to trial.
Now now here's what's fascinating about that. I mean, you may not think, well, it's no big deal. Right? No, but here's what's fascinating about that.
Talking about American character.
Sam Adams, Samuel Adams,
he he kept the city stirred up and in a frenzy.
You know, he he was one of the real,

(29:25):
I mean, the real rebels.
And he was out there, and he was stoking the fire, and and
and whenever he had the chance, but but
none other than Sam Adams cousin,
John Adams,
the future president of The United States or a future president of The United States, future vice president of The United States, John Adams actually defended the British soldiers.

(29:47):
He was their defense attorney
with the assistance of another attorney named Josiah Quincy junior,
who who was another patriot.
Well, long story short, Preston was acquitted in front of a colonial jury,
and and six of the men were declared not guilty, and two of the men were found guilty of manslaughter charges and given very light sentences.

(30:10):
Right. Now here's what's really fascinating about that.
People say,
well, you know, if there was such a frenzy crowd,
how did these guys get acquitted of those charges?
How could that possibly happen? Well, if you if you examine this thing under under the searchlight of common sense,
it it really tells a great deal about

(30:32):
the American Revolution, and leadership, and and and and those who nursed it into existence.
You know, at at this time, there was there was
there was this, you know, great emotional outcry
against the British that had been slowly increasing and intensifying for years,
you know, prior to 1770.

(30:56):
But be that as it may, the Americans had a real sense of of fairness
and justice.
The gentleman who represented these guys, John Adams, you'd say,
boy, you know, he must have been hated
after that.

(31:17):
Well, shortly after that, he ran for a colonial assembly, and he was elected by, believe it or not, 80% of the vote.
So you see, people did have
a sense of fair mindedness. Now you do something like that today,
it is strictly cut across party line,
ideological
lines.

(31:39):
Very, very few on either side
actually think rationally and with common sense.
So people did have a sense
of fair mindedness
back then.
Now around this time, there was a very famous evangelist by the name of George Whitfield. You know, if you're involved in church, or if you're,

(32:07):
you know, involved in bible,
studies, or if you're involved in, you know, the you
know, you know, bible schools, whatever, you you know, you're you'll know the name
George Whitfield.
Now George was he he was an English evangelist,
so he wasn't he wasn't an American, he wasn't a citizen of America, he wasn't

(32:28):
a member or a citizen of any colony here in America, but
he did a lot of evangelistic work that that ranged from,
New England
all the way down to Georgia, up and down the East Coast.
And,
he was a very good friend to another guy that that you should know his name, John Wesley.
And even though they vehemently disagreed on some of their theology,

(32:52):
they were great friends.
Wesley was an Armenian.
He was one of the founders of of a of a church that you know today as the Methodist church.
And, Whitfield was a Baptist,
and considered himself to be a Calvinist.
And one of their big differences was the security of the believer.

(33:13):
But, if you don't know what that is, the security of the believer is very basically this.
Men like,
like like Whitfield,
and myself, and and others of the Baptist,
the Baptist background,
they believe, and we believe,
that once you are truly saved, once you're saved, you're always saved. There's no opportunity, there's no chance that you can lose your salvation, and scripture is is resplendent with examples of that.

(33:42):
But, men like Wesley,
Armenian theology, Armenian thought,
is that you could lose your salvation. You could be saved today, lost tomorrow. Save today, lost tomorrow.
You want an example of a church like that? You're talking the Pentecostal churches, you're talking about,

(34:02):
you're talking about,
the the Catholic church.
You know, you could you could be saved today, you could be lost tomorrow. Saved today, lost tomorrow. The Catholic church puts more,
things into it, but that's the sense the general sense of it.
But you know something set it setting those things aside, these guys were really close friends. Really close friends. They would write letters to each other, just basically haranguing each other over their bad theology,

(34:27):
but, but they both had a heart for souls.
They both had a mutual respect for one another, and for where they stood in their convictions.
But the common denominator that brought them together was,
they love souls,
and wanted to win souls for Christ.
Well, George Whitefield's about six months after this riot

(34:51):
that came to be known as the Boston Massacre.
He wrote it to Boston, and, and this was the last time that he'd be able to, to give Boston
any kind of encouragement,
or cheer it. And and and, here's a quote actually for what he wrote to a friend of his, on September.
He said, and I quote,
poor New England is much to be pitied Boston people most of all.

(35:14):
How falsely misrepresented.
What a mercy that our Christian character cannot be dissolved.
Alright. Well, what's he talking about?
He's talking about the character with that was demonstrated at the trial of those soldiers.
I mean, folks, that was nothing but pure character.

(35:36):
You know, all animosities, all prejudices were put aside. You can't get you won't get that today.
Just look at the law fair that that was waged against Donald Trump.
About a week after expressing those thoughts
and those, those those pro American sentiments,

(35:57):
Whitfield died and went to heaven. And so, you know, they buried him, and, you know, he wanted to be buried under the pulpit of the Newburyport Church.
And so and that's where they buried a lot. You know what? Well, honestly, that's where they buried a lot of old preachers, you know, under the pulpit.
Well, as, as Whitfield's body was being lowered into the burial vault, reverend Jedediah Jewett

(36:18):
charged the attending preachers and ministers that they should endeavor to follow
his, quote,
blessed example.
And,
it was, it was a revived American clergy that provided the greatest impetus for the events that were about to take place. Do you know what the British actually called the Protestant clergy

(36:39):
around that time?
It was kinda funny actually.
You know what they called them? They called them the rebel parsons.
The rebel parsons.
That was a title that the British put on them.
Well, the pulpits of the land were kindled with a flame of their own
with an even greater intensity.

(37:00):
Now one of the greatest historians of the day,
of of the era, really, JT Hedley,
enlightens us accordingly.
And this is a quote.
It must be remembered that the newspapers of the day were a novelty,
and ideas were not so easily decimated as now. The pulpit, therefore, was the most direct and effectual way of reaching the masses.

(37:21):
So basically people got more information just by going to church. You know, they didn't have Fox News. They didn't have CNN. They didn't have,
you know, all these media outlets. They didn't have a lot of newspapers either,
so they went to church.
And many of the preachers in fact, a majority of the preachers really, you
know, were as was just as much statesmen as they were preachers.

(37:41):
You know, they were they really were students of politics and human rights and and and so on, and and so Headley goes on to say this, he said and I'm just quoting him now. Alright. This is his this this historian, I am just quoting him. Quote,
clergymen
were treated with the kind of regard that Americans refused to give kings and Anglican bishops.

(38:04):
James Adams cites nineteenth century historian William Sprague's description of the almost electrifying offense the entrance of the minister and his family
had into in coming into the meeting house on the congregate from the congregation. Now, I want you to get a load of this. Alright? This is really far out.
This is really far out. But here's a William Sprague's description of a pastor's entrance into the church house.

(38:28):
And remember, this guy is writing well over a hundred years ago.
Alright?
So he's much closer to the these events,
than we are now.
I quote,
and and by the way, that's a key thing too.
You know, you need to go to
historical accounts of things that took,

(38:50):
that took place
or or at least historical accounts that were written by,
historians and and and and journalists of those days that were closer to those events because you get a more accurate
story, or more accurate picture of what was actually going on. You're not getting that watered down nonsense that you're getting today.
But this is what he said, I quote, the whole space before the meeting house with a waiting and respectful, and expecting multitude.

(39:18):
And multitude is probably correct because most folks,
went to church in those days. What there were there were very very few people who did not go to church. The church house was
almost always full,
and there there are plenty of times too where where we have documentation from churches that that the church house was so full that it was all that was running over.
Like standing room only.

(39:40):
It's not like today where where most folks don't go to church.
They did.
They actually did.
Quote, at the moment of the service the pastor issued from his mansion,
with bible and manuscript sermon under his arm, with his wife leaning on one arm.
They followed every other member of the family according then followed every other member of member of the family according to age,

(40:04):
rank, making often
with fam, making often with family visits
a formidable
procession.
So you gotta picture this in your head. This whole procession
that comes down the the center aisle of that church house.
The pastor, his wife, the kids, family members,
visitors, guests, so on, all come,

(40:27):
all come down that
center aisle of the church.
As soon as it appears, the congregation began to move toward the door of the church.
And before the procession reached it, all were in their places.
As soon as the pastor entered the church, the whole congregation rose and stood
until the pastor was in the pulpit and his family were seated.

(40:48):
Until which was done, the whole assembly continued
standing.
At the close of the service, the whole congregation stood until his until he and his wife, or he and his family had left the church before anyone moved toward the door.
Before noon and afternoon,
the same course of proceeding was had.
Expensive

(41:09):
of the reverential ref relation in which the people acknowledged and stood before their clergymen.
All of that just to demonstrate that the clergy
of colonial days
had tremendous influence in disseminating information that people

(41:30):
received concerning
their politics,
among other things.
Another big thing that, was propagated by the clergy
was what they called a weekly
state of the union sermon.

(41:50):
That's press pretty far out, you know.
Now, you know, some of the some of the few existing new newspapers
that that did exist would
print a sermon by one of the local pastors every week in the in the local paper.
And, it was usually a sermon with a political bias, you know, that that was connected to it, but,
and and and they always printed not only in the newspaper,

(42:14):
but in pamphlet form, and distributed that around the community,
in, what we what we would call today election day sermons.
Now if you go to the Library of Congress, you know, to this day, you you could find,
you could you could find in there multitudes
of election day sermons that were preached all over colonial day, colonial America during that particular time frame. So so so these preachers

(42:37):
would preach whatever they thought was right,
and the people listened very very carefully.
Again, Headley says this, the historian,
quote, the preachers did not confine themselves to a dissertation on doctrinal truths
or mere expectation of godly behavior. They grappled with the great question of the rights of man

(42:59):
and especially the rights of the colonists, and their controversy with their mother country.
So so Hedley, you know, he points out that their messages were not, you know,
not, not the kind of,
you know, sermonettes for Christianettes, you know.
They weren't sermonettes.

(43:21):
It wasn't this, you know, just, you know, fluffy little feel good kind of stuff, you know. It it was stuff that was meant to and was geared and built to inspire folks to really do some serious thinking.
Not just to go, oh, well, you know, I go to church just so I can walk out the door and feel good, you know. It's it's not.

(43:44):
No. It was,
let's do some serious thinking here.
The, the the profound thought
and unanswerable arguments found in those sermons show that the clergy
were not a wit
behind some of the
most able statesmen of the day.

(44:07):
So these sermons were were regularly published
in pamphlets or newspapers, and and then and then widely distributed,
and, and and and and was basically the the primary source of political information. Now, you know, tragically, and and I do mean tragically when I say that. It is tragic that most pastors today

(44:27):
in America are totally
oblivious
and ignorant of this part of our history.
They don't know anything about it. They really don't.
And I've been confronted with them, you know, because I've always been, you know,
somewhat of a political animal.
And I would confront them, and I'd say, well I just don't think, you know, the the the the church ought to be in politics.

(44:52):
The church,
what?
And then my response to that, you know, among others would be, well wait a minute. Hold on a second here.
Let me show you some areas in which the the primary political movement for independence
in the revolutionary days found its impetus
in the pulpits of America.

(45:17):
Now if it was wrong for these preachers to participate in that kind of activity, is it wrong for us to enjoy the freedom that that that they secured for us?
Think about that.
Just think about that. One has to go with the other.
So, so so, you know, one could, you know, appreciate mister Headley likening these election year sermons

(45:39):
to the hands of a clock, which he does.
And, and, you know, as, you know, as you watch this thing that that progressed from 1770
going on forward,
you know, some of the texts,
some of the texts that some of these preachers used, I mean,
they're powerful powerful messages.

(45:59):
Now on an annual basis,
a a particular pastor was, was was picked or chosen
to preach to the colonial assembly, which included all of the British appointed magistrates, and and the British appointed governor. Remember,
the governor and and and the judges and the magistrates, they were not from the colonies. They were appointed

(46:20):
by the by the crown.
There was no election. There was no voting for them. They were appointed by the crown. These were the king's men.
And so these preachers would would
would get called in to preach to the colonial assembly where these men were attending, these appointed men, these king's men,
and these preachers would preach to the whole crowd.

(46:44):
You gotta kinda think of it like, like like, it would be like preaching to a joint session of congress today.
And really, do I mean, do you think Congress would even put up with that?
Alright. Now, for ex for example, 1774,
the reverend the reverend Samuel Cook of the second Church of Cambridge
chose second Samuel 23 verses three and four

(47:06):
as his text. Alright. And and here's what the text says.
The god of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, he that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be as the light of the morning
when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear

(47:32):
shining
after rain.
Alright. So these are the kind of texts
that these guys were were habitually referring to
when they preach to, to, you know, these political assemblies.
And obviously, at that time, you know, things were heating up a little bit by the time reverend Gad Hitchcock of Pembroke preached

(47:55):
on May
1774,
and he preached from Proverbs 29
and verse two. You know what Proverbs 29 verse two says?
Says this,
when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice,
but when the wicked beareth rule,
the people mourn.
Now there was a governor, a British appointed governor who who was British, of course,

(48:18):
and, he was named Hutchinson at that particular time. And
that sermon
from that text that I just read to you,
that was the last sermon that he ever heard on American soil, the one that Hitchcock preached.
But I'll tell you what,
it's a skater. If you it it's a barn burner, it it what that guy had preached.

(48:41):
I have a copy of it. I'm not gonna read it to you.
I'm gonna I'm gonna share with you just probably the last sentence or two. I have it here in my notes, but
you need to find this and read this.
But let me read this to you. This is from this is from that sermon. King George, quote there's a quote. King George

(49:07):
may say the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary, but I tell you,
and I tell the tyrant to his face,
it is because the wicked
bear rule.
Man, without apology
without apology.
Do you see what he's doing?

(49:27):
Do you see what he is doing?
He is pointing
his finger
right at the
king, and he's saying he's wicked,
he's ruling,
and that's why the people mourn.
Well, Thomas Hutchins got on the boat, June 1, the Minerva, and sailed back to England.

(49:48):
He was recalled.
And as the ex governor sailed out of Boston,
the harbor closed behind him ominously
with the implementation of the Port Act.
Look it up.
The same day,

(50:09):
diverting all traffic, all commercial traffic
to the new customs office at Plymouth,
Lieutenant general Thomas Gage.
You probably heard of the name.
Lieutenant general Thomas Gage was now in charge by mid June, and an additional 4,000

(50:29):
British soldiers were on hand to assist him.
Folks, the handwriting was on the wall, wouldn't you say?
So what took place next?
Well, the first Continental Congress
took place from September 5 to 10/26/1774.
Now remember, we're just two years away still, just two years away from the Declaration of Independence,

(50:53):
and here's how they opened
the Continental Congress of seventeen seventy four.
They opened it with a scripture reading from Psalm 35.
Here's the scripture.
Plead my cause, oh lord, with them that strive with me. Fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler,

(51:17):
and stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear, and stop
the way against them that persecute me. Say into my soul,
I am
thy salvation.
Now when the reading was concluded,
the honorable members of congress
knelt in prayer.

(51:41):
Should I say that again?
Congress members knelt
in prayer,
and the presiding minister led the assembly in prayer.
And then, having gotten down to business, it was determined, after seven exhausting weeks of them meeting as a Continental Congress,
that a petition of colonial grievances backed by a threat of embargoes be sent to George the third

(52:06):
with dispatch, which just means all speed quickly.
And so they did. So they put together this list of grievances, not
the declaration of independence,
just
a list of grievances,
and sent it across the ocean,
and it was,
you guessed it, summarily
disregarded.

(52:27):
And and I'm pretty sure you know the conversation. You know, those hillbillies over there, you know, what do they know?
Well, Virginia,
Virginia had a revolutionary convention that met at Saint John's Church in Richmond on March
1775
to ratify the recommendations of the Philadelphia assembly
that we just talked about.

(52:49):
Now now here's where this gets fascinating,
at least to me.
I don't know if it does to you. I hope it does.
What while the majority
there were trying to figure out what they were gonna do, and and some and some of of some of them were kind of, you know, complacent about the whole thing.
Patrick Henry

(53:09):
changed all of that
with one speech.
One speech.
Now, men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, you know, they were sitting there right at the edge of their pew listening to Patrick Henry.
But what a lot of them didn't know
and didn't understand

(53:30):
was that Patrick Henry Henry himself was carrying an extra weight and an extra burden on his own particular soul.
Not only was he looking at
the,
incredibly
difficult situation that his country was in.
And when I say country, I'm talking about
Virginia. I'm not talking about

(53:53):
the 13 states
or colonies
that formed that union, that early union.
His country was Virginia.
But you see, God had given him
a little bit of a deeper insight

(54:13):
because his own beloved wife, Sarah,
and mother of his six children, at that very moment that that Henry was giving this speech,
was actually bound up in a straight jacket,
having threatened suicide due to mental
insanity. She was crazy.

(54:33):
And then within a year, she was dead.
So
another historian by the name of Lang Langeth
transports us to a into a pew of our own
to catch the dramatic conclusion.
And, and here's what mister Langeth said.
And remember, he was he was he was relatively close to the action chronologically,

(54:55):
so he knows what was said. He
his account of these things could be trusted more than anything you get in today's modern history books.
And this is what he said, quote, Henry began calmly.
As his voice rose, tendons in his neck were standing out, white and rigid.
He said if the colonists wish to be free, they must fight.

(55:18):
Quote, I repeat, sir, we must fight,
and appeal to arms and to the god of hosts
is all that has left us.
They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.
But when shall we be stronger?
Will it be the next week or the next year?
Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed at every house?

(55:45):
They weren't weak,
Henry said. They weren't weak.
Three millions of people armed
in the holy cause of liberty,
and in such a country as that which we possess are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us.
Interesting thought there.

(56:06):
Interesting thought. Did you did you did you hear that?
Three millions of people armed
in the
holy
cause of liberty
are an invincible force
against any enemy.

(56:27):
The war is inevitable and let it come. I repeat it, sir. Let it come.
As Patrick Henry turned,
eyes around the church, men lean forward in their seats.
Quote, gentlemen may cry
peace, peace,
but there is no peace.
The war has actually begun. The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms.

(56:53):
Our brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle?
What is it that gentlemen wish?
What would they have?
Patrick Henry's shoulders sank.
He crossed his wrists
as though he were the one on the straitjacket, so like this.

(57:17):
And he said,
is life so dear
or peace so sweet
as to be purchased
at the price of chains
and slavery?
He paused. He raised his eyes and lifted his hands still held together.
Forbid it, almighty God.

(57:40):
And returned to stare at the men who opposed him.
Slowly,
he bowed his whole body down.
I know not
what course others may take.
He rose. He straightened to his full height,
and his next words came from between clenched teeth.

(58:02):
But as for
me, give me liberty.
And he paused to let the word die away.
His left hand fell to his side.
His right hand formed a fist as if he held a dagger and struck that fist to his heart and said,

(58:23):
or give me death.
There was no applause,
only silence.
That's all there was, just silence.
Now that
now that speech was probably

(58:44):
one of the prime motivators
of instigating some of the things in response to what took place.
It only took thirty days for Henry's spiritual premonition to be confirmed. At approximately 1AM
on the April 19, a loud knock was heard on the door of a country parsonage.
As the door swung open, Paul Revere strode into the presence of Sam Adams, John Hancock,

(59:08):
and reverend Jonas Clark, pastor of the Congregational Church at Lexington, Massachusetts.
His report
of 700
approaching redcoats
was met with a certain degree of great excitement,
and you could expect that. You could appreciate that.
So they hastily called together a council and determined what they would do. The question

(59:31):
the question of the hour was whether or not the people would actually fight.
You know, would these humble farmers and mill hands dare to resist the greatest
professional army the world had ever seen at that time?
In recounting pastor Clark's pastoral patriotism, Headley states this, quote,

(59:53):
earnestly yet without passion,
he discussed from the pulpit the great questions at issue,
and that powerful voice thundered forth the principles of personal,
civil, and religious liberty,
And the right
of resistance
in tones as earnest and as effective as the doctrine of slavery by the cross.

(01:00:17):
Well, some of them were convinced that the redcoats would be showing up around 02:00, so they rang the church bells and people were jarred out of their sleep.
They assembled on the lawn of the church under the leadership of a 45 year old militia commander, Captain John Parker.
And they hung around for a while,
and yet no redcoats showed up.
So he said to go home, but be alert.

(01:00:39):
At 04:30,
the bells rang again, and they all piled out. And sure enough,
the approaching columns of seasoned British marines
were advancing ever nearer.
Captain Parker assembled a meager force of
77 men
in two ranks.

(01:01:02):
77 men
went out against
700.
A palsied Sam Adams prevailed upon Hancock to retire with him as their cabinet position necessitated
that they avoid being captured at all costs.
However, pastor Clark would fight alongside of his people, and he did.

(01:01:24):
He did.
Another historian, Bancroft, stated this. He said and and, you know, so it really it is fun.
It it is. It is fun when you kinda go through and sort through all these old historians, you know, you learn stuff, man. You you really learn stuff that's not on the history channel, that's not on the discovery channel, you're not gonna get on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC,

(01:01:45):
and all the other ones.
Just imagine that.
Bancroft said this, quote, among the most alert
was the minister.
With gun in hand, his powder horn, and pouch of balls slung over his shoulder.
That's my kind of preacher.
It is. It's my kind of preacher. By his sermons and his prayers, he had so hallowed the enthusiasm of his flock that they held the defense of their liberties

(01:02:15):
as part of their covenant
with
God.
A covenant
with God.
His presence with arms strengthened their sense of duty. Under the eye of the minister, Lexington Common was alive with the Minutemen.
Outnumbered 10 to one.

(01:02:36):
Captain Parker gave the order to allow the Red Coast to pass unmolested,
yet with the manly stipulation,
stand your ground,
don't fire unless fired upon.
But if they mean to have war,
let it begin here.
Led by a British commander, major John Pitcairn, he came and shouted at the patriots from his steed,

(01:03:01):
disperse you rebel blankety blanks. Lay down your
arms.
Well,
they indignantly
complied with only the first part of that order.
They separated to allow the procession of British marines through,
but they would not and did not lay down their arms.

(01:03:28):
Well,
some unidentified
participant, probably a nervous trigger finger,
let off a volley, and all of a sudden, man, everything just went
crazy.
When it was all said and done,
eight Americans lay dead and or dying on the ground.
Two British marines were slightly wounded.

(01:03:50):
And so, of course, you know, the Brits gave ex expressions of exuberance,
you know, three cheers and all that stuff, and then they marched off.
And of course, where they go where they were going, they were going to Concord.
And the reason they were going to Concord,
their mission was to find
their objective
was actually destroying the town's munitions reserve.

(01:04:13):
See, towns back in those days actually had
public
munitions reserves.
So they received information that there were some patriots in the Concord area that stored up a lot of gun and a lot of guns and a lot of ammunition, and,
and so the, the expedition commander, colonel Francis Smith, returned his march toward Concord.

(01:04:38):
And, so that was about another five mile trip down the road.
And of course, they
they vastly outnumbered the Concord militia group.
And when the Concord militia found out that they were they were coming,
they they withdrew to higher ground
all in that area, which is smart. Very very smart.

(01:04:59):
You know, it didn't take the Patriots very long to figure out that the old European European way of war wasn't very smart at all.
And you know what that is, you know, you you you've seen it in movies and and whatnot, you know, you line up your guys here, and you know, you line up your guys over there, and then you just shoot at each other. Right? You know, one line here, one line here, back, you know, facing each other, and boom boom boom boom boom.

(01:05:20):
So they came to that con they came to the conclusion that,
that that and and they came to it really quickly that this is really dumb.
Really dumb.
So what they did is they retreated to the trees and the higher ground,
and, you know, and
and once again, and and here's a salient point, you know, as far as I'm concerned,
it was the local parson,

(01:05:41):
the local pastor, the local preacher
who steadied their resolve for for a righteous scrap.
Reverend William Emerson exhorting, let us stand our ground. If we die, let us die here.
Well, the British got to town, and they thought they were occupying a rebel town of about 1,500 people.

(01:06:03):
And when all and while the privates and the sergeants were sent out to explore the surrounding areas, you know, looking for the for the hitting musicians,
Pitcairn and Smith were sitting out on the lawn eating their breakfast,
stirring their bourbon and and their and, you know, their their bourbon and water with their fingers.
And Pitcairn
was noted to have said, before the day is over, I will be stirring Yankee blood.

(01:06:28):
But what he didn't know
was about that time, 400
grim faced,
musket toting farmers were on their way.
They were moving across the old North Bridge
despite the presence of, I think it was three companies of of of,
marine,
British marine regulars.

(01:06:51):
When 20 British guns suddenly discharged an opening volley that led to the killing of two militia officers, major major Buttrick,
gave the command for which the men had been waiting for,
fire fellow soldiers, for God's sake fire.
And they did, they did, and they did. In addition to the immediate three direct hits, three direct kills, a patriot eyewitness reported that,

(01:07:13):
eight or 10 were wounded and hobbling about looking to see if if they were after them. The battle lasted actually just two minutes.
Just two minutes.
Now the British had absolutely no idea how many adversaries were out there because they weren't all lined up like a bunch of dummies. They were all hidden behind trees and rocks.

(01:07:36):
They were in ditches,
and they were firing at will.
And the Brits, well, you know, all of a sudden they're stumbling around, and so so they began to to retreat
all the way back to Boston.
A five mile, two and a half hour turkey shoot followed them,
Because what the Patriots did was,
they just ran up alongside the road,

(01:07:59):
up in the bushes and the trees.
And they would stop, and they would reload, and they would run a little further down the road,
load, reload, shoot, run down the road,
shoot, and then
and they follow the Brits all the way,
all the way back to Boston,
shooting them as they went. I don't know if you maybe you've seen the movie that, Mel Gibson was in, The Patriot.

(01:08:23):
There was a scene in there where he was running, he he was following this column of British soldiers,
and he was running in the woods, and he had his little boys there helping him, and they they were they were running up ahead of him. They were loading they were loading the muskets. They were leaving him by the trees, and he was running alongside. He grabbed one, shoot,
drop it, go on to the next one,
reload, grab it, boom boom boom, you know, and that's exactly what they're talking about.

(01:08:47):
That's probably where they got it from.
But had it been not had it not been for Lord Perry's 900 men reinforcement,
he actually saved the, the
the force with total annihilation.
Major Charles Steadman, a contemporary military officer and celebrated military historian, described the scene

(01:09:12):
on the very ground of their earlier short lived celebration accordingly.
Percy formed his detachment into a square,
in which he enclosed Smith's party,
who were so fatigued
that they were obligated to lie down for the
lie
down for arrest on the ground, their tongues hanging out of their mouths like dogs.

(01:09:36):
Now that was one British soldier describing the rest of the British soldiers.
Alright. Now,
so as they as they were retreating back to Boston,
church bells were ringing all the way back, which was just calling patriots to attention.
Now when it was all said and done,
while these inexperienced

(01:09:58):
greenhorn colonial volunteers
suffered forty nine killed, thirty nine wounded, and five missing in action,
The seasoned British Grenadiers,
Fusiliers,
Marines
suffered numbers three times as high.
Seventy three killed, a hundred seventy wounded, twenty six missing.

(01:10:19):
And so on the heels of these two historic battles, Lexington and Concord,
and I'm sure you've heard of Lexington and Concord,
but do you know what happened?
Do you know what happened?
Alright, folks. We're gonna take a short break here.

(01:10:39):
Break time. And, we're gonna come back to this momentarily and discuss what the second continental congress
had to say. Folks, this is a live show,
weeknights, 7PM central time,
Saturday, 3PM central time, and Sunday at 6PM
central time. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends, your family, and your followers.

(01:11:02):
Help us to spread this show around. Help us to spread the word about what we're talking about here, what we're teaching,
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So don't forget to help us out by liking, subscribing, and sharing the show.
Alright. We'll be back right after this.
Just stay with us.

(01:12:18):
While the storm clouds gather
far across the sea,
let us pledge allegiance
to a land that's free.
Let us all all be
faithful to a land so fair
as
we raise our voices

(01:12:40):
in a solemn

(01:15:17):
Alright.
Well, we are back. Told you it was a short one.
Folks, this is the Joe Russo. My name is Joe Russo.
Hope you guys are enjoying the study that we're doing tonight on America's
Christian heritage.

(01:15:38):
A lot of information here, so a lot of it's,
and you really can't commit all this stuff to memory, so I am reading some,
particularly the quotes
and the, of course, you know, the
the recounting of these events that took place,
for these historians. I can't remember all I can't memorize all this stuff, but,

(01:15:58):
but I hope this is fine I hope you're finding this to be fascinating study
because a lot of again, a lot of people don't really know
what really happened
at the founding of our country,
at at the founding of our American Union.
So we left off here talking about the second continental congress.

(01:16:21):
Now the second continental continental congress convened at the Pennsylvania State House on May the thirtieth of seventeen seventy
five. And, the topic of of discussion
was a very important one, very significant one.
It was the, discussion of the formation of a continental army.

(01:16:41):
A continental army.
Because, you know, remember at that point, it there wasn't any standing army. They didn't have a standing army.
It was just militia,
minutemen, volunteers. And I don't say just militia, I mean, to to demean or degrade,
but that's all it was. It was they weren't a professionally trained army like they were going up against.

(01:17:04):
These were just people that were protecting their homes, their properties, their their their livelihoods, their families. It's all they were.
And even though that's all they were, they they were reasonably reasonably effective.
Now immediately after that, word came from Fort Ticonderoga
that, the fort had surrendered. Now do you know where Fort Ticonderoga is?

(01:17:26):
That's, that's up on Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont.
Very important area, very strategically important area.
As a result of Fort Ticonderoga falling, they captured 59 cannons.
And believe me, those 59 cannons were a real help to the colonials.
Alright. Now, while these events were transpiring,

(01:17:48):
the siege of Boston was already underway with general Gage and his entire army hemmed in by several thousand angry patriots. Now, all of a sudden that, you know, these patriots were getting fired up.
These patriots were getting fired up. Do you know what America needs
today?
Fired up patriots.

(01:18:10):
Fired up patriots.
And I know I'm At this point, I don't even think we need guns and bullets.
You know, we just need a lot of people that are upset enough
to say enough is enough.
Every now and then, you see glimpses of that showing up on the horizon here, but it's not enough, it needs to be more.

(01:18:34):
Now, so, the word leaked out that general Gage,
determined to gain a military advantage by securing the adjacent Dorchester Heights. So what the Americans did, they decided to try to beat him to the punch. So what they did is they they said, you know, we're gonna go up to the high ground,
and, and and and some thought that Bunker Bunker Hill was the highest ground available, so they said, well, let's go to Bunker Hill.

(01:18:57):
And so, they were sneaking out
on the evening of June with about 900 colonial troops under the command of Colonel William Prescott.
They assembled at Cambridge
and were led in solemn prayer by pastor Samuel Langdon,
who was of all things at that time,
the president of Harvard University.

(01:19:17):
Now Do you think whoever's the president of Harvard University today today knows how to pray?
I don't think so.
Harvard University.
And you do realize that that that Harvard and Yale, you know, they were started for the purpose of training young preachers.
Did you know that? That was their founding stone.
That's where they started. That's what they were there for.

(01:19:38):
Alright? So he led them in prayer, and after that, these 900 colonial soldiers marched by lantern light to Bunker Hill,
only to pass it by for a lower hill called Breed's Hill.
So they got up on Breed's Hill, and Prescott
directed his men in in a hasty construction of a primitive fort,
and all they used was earth and timber. And so they were digging and digging, and by 3AM,

(01:20:02):
the angled readouts supporting a 130 foot
sides with ramparts, and five to sit that were five to six feet in height,
were still only partially completed.
I mean, these guys were digging like gophers
all night long trying to build some protection up on Breed's Hill.
And at first light, Gage and his fellow generals were astounded at what they saw.

(01:20:27):
And so they ordered artillery shells from the cannons on the ships in the harbor to be aimed and directed at this,
depository of of colonial soldiers.
And, you know, on the whole, it was pretty effective.
I mean, they would blow they they were blowing bits and pieces up out of the hill, and, with nothing but cannon fire from all these naval vessels out in the harbor.

(01:20:49):
But for some reason,
for some reason, that just
demonstrates how much God
was in this whole thing,
for some reason they stopped.
And one of the reason they stopped was the tide was going out, and the tide was abnormally low.

(01:21:11):
And they realized they were like, hey. We gotta get out to sea.
They gotta get out to sea out of range.
And folks, I wonder who controls the tides.
Who controls the tides?

(01:21:32):
Well, let's let's kinda circle back here for a second.
A gentleman by the name of David Avery of Norwich, Connecticut was one of many thousands
of impressionable youths who went to hear George Whitfield,
purely out of curiosity.
But he got under such conviction of the Holy Spirit that that he got saved. He got saved. He became a Christian.

(01:21:54):
He surrendered to the ministry.
Avery graduated from Yale College back when Yale College was a seminary or or a bible college.
He was ordained in 1773.
He later moved to Geisborough, Vermont
and assumed the pastorate of a local congregational church. Now, you have to understand that congregational churches were considerably different in those days than they are today. Alright? Now, when when when news of Lexington and Concord reached

(01:22:21):
his sleepy community,
pastor Avery shocked his flock by resigning his commission,
and joining the army as a chaplain.
As he marched out of town,
heading out to Boston,
20 of his parishioners,
having chosen him as their captain,
followed close behind him with muskets on their shoulders.

(01:22:45):
When the little band arrived at Cambridge on April,
I think it was April 29,
the troops assembled to receive the reverend captain and his men as they referred as they were referred to.
Now on the morning of the battle,
the Battle of Bunker Hill, which was really Breed's Hill,

(01:23:05):
Chaplain David Avery
performed a most
unusual service
for his country.
Historian Headley describes the scene, quote,
in the Battle of Bunker Hill, as it is called, but but which is well known to have taken place on Breed's Hill,
this brave, godly man stood on Bunker Hill in full sight of the conflict.

(01:23:28):
And as Moses, who stood up on the hill and held up his hand so that Joshua might smite the Amalekites,
so he, with the adjacent heights and shores shaking
to the thunder of cannon and the flames of burning Charlestown
or rolling heavenward,
lifted up his hands and prayed God would give victory to the Americans.

(01:23:49):
Breed's Hill, dimly seen through the rolling smoke of battle,
amid which flashed the deadly volleys and gleamed the glittering lines in the background,
this patriotic divine with upraised
hands,
beseeching heaven for victory would make an appropriate picture

(01:24:09):
of that bloody prelude to the revolution.
Now this was a young preacher,
and this young preacher
gave inspiration to those retreating patriots
who began to realize
all of the bulwark
that they tried to construct overnight was being decimated.

(01:24:34):
He convinced them to stay instead of retreat,
and so they did. They stayed.
You know, looking over at Bunker Hill, watching that preacher pray,
that was the primary motivator for them. Years later, the reverend Avery,
his personal diary for June 18 was discovered, and and and this is what he wrote with his own hand.

(01:24:56):
I stood upon neighboring
the neighboring hill bunker
with hands uplifted, supplicating the blessings of heaven to crown
our unworthy arms with success.
To us infantile Americans,
unused to the thunder and carnage of battle, the flames of Charlestown before our eyes, the incessant play of cannon from their shipping from Boston,

(01:25:17):
and their wings
and various cross directions together with the fire of musketry from
more than four times our number, all heightened the majestic terrors of the field,
exhibiting obscene most awful and tremendous. But amid the perils of our dread encounter, the Lord was our rock
and
our fortress.

(01:25:39):
About 03:00 in the afternoon, the British
decided to use an infantry frontal attack,
and they did be they believed that most of the patriots left. They thought they deserted. So they said, we're just gonna march right up Breed's Hill, and we're gonna we're gonna go over those ramparts and destroy whatever's left.
Now the officer in charge made an admonition
to the men, which is which has

(01:26:02):
it it's kinda become popularized over the years. He said, men, stay down,
don't shoot
until you can see the whites of their eyes.
And so there they are,
hunkered down,
and here come the British,
marching shoulder to shoulder up the hill. You know, fife and drummer playing,

(01:26:25):
and and here they come, up the hill.
And when they were about
200
when when they were about a 100 feet away,
and you can see the whites of their eyes,
About 200 flintlocks came over that thing and fired all at once.

(01:26:47):
And I mean folks, man, it caused
such havoc,
and bodies rolling all over the place, and rolling downhill, and the dead, and the screaming, and the wounded.
And of course, the British the British instantly retreated,
and down the hill they went. And it wasn't even an hour later,
not too bright,

(01:27:08):
they sent a second attachment.
The same way,
right up the hill,
here they come.
Well, you know, it doesn't take an hour to reload a flintlock.
The same thing happened all over again.
Down the hill they went.
Third time,

(01:27:28):
same thing.
Three times, folks. Three times, they marched these men into the into this horrible
arena of destruction.
But after the third time, the militia
were out of powder, so they gradually retreated knowing that they had nothing left to defend themselves. So the British came over the ramparts and, of course, declared the victory.

(01:27:51):
But even general Gates said later on that,
that that it was no victory at all, none whatsoever.
As the sweat drenched Reverend Avery descended Bunker Hill at the conclusion of his prayer meeting for America,
the extent of which the Lord answered would not be fully appreciated for many years to come.
Not only did the colonial soldiers receive

(01:28:12):
an infusion of confidence for the struggles that that lay ahead, but the British gained a healthy respect for the for their unpolished
American cousins as well.
Although the enemy occupied the American's fortress at day's end, the triumph was an empty victory at best.

(01:28:33):
On the British side, 1,054
dead and wounded to be cared for compared to only 449
American casualties. Really no time for cheering or shouting, my opinion,
who took place at Lexington.
But I I guess the the point that I'm really trying to get across here is that, you know, and and we're just getting started. Alright? We're just getting started.

(01:28:54):
And,
you know, we'll we'll do another history lesson next week.
But,
you know, it it it was the it was the spiritual bulwark
of colonial America that incited
the fight for freedom.
The freedom that you and I enjoy today.

(01:29:14):
The freedom that you and I celebrated
on Friday.
Now in these early days, you know, there was not there there was no one. There was no one. Not one statement statesman, not a politician, not a preacher that really wanted to separate from England.

(01:29:35):
There really was no desire to separate.
What they wanted is they wanted to be treated as equal British citizens. That's all they wanted. That's all they desired.
But the abuses were so grievous,
that finally they said,
as indicated in the declaration of independence,
there comes a time when you have to dissolve those political bans.

(01:29:56):
And,
that's where our history lies.
Now as we continue this, you're gonna find that there's a lot that you won't find in modern secular history books.
There's a lot of things they don't want you to know,
but I'm gonna tell you.
I'm gonna tell you. You know why? Because I'm gonna give you the good stuff.

(01:30:19):
You get the good stuff here.
I don't hide anything from you. I tell you as it is,
and that's the good stuff.
So for people to say that America is not a Christian country,
that's one of the most insane comments that's ever been made.

(01:30:41):
America
was bathed
and founded on Christian principles
and bible doctrines.
This whole thing was built on biblical truth folks, and we're just scratching the tip of the iceberg on that. You know, and I did I wrestled with this. I, you know, I said, Lord,
do I teach a history lesson about those particular days?

(01:31:02):
And it was almost like the Lord said to me, you know, well, where else are they gonna get it?
You know, I was reading Patrick Henry speech a few years ago,
I would have thought, yeah, yeah, that's good. You know,

(01:31:24):
not bad.
But right now,
it's becoming increasingly sobering.
Increasingly sobering.
And if God's people don't know it,

(01:31:44):
who's gonna tell anybody else?
You know, bible believing preachers haven't always been, you know, lace on the underwear, milk toast milk toast wusses, you know, but that's what you get these days.
There have been some men
in those rank and files,

(01:32:08):
men of men.
And thank God for them. There were a lot of preachers that joined the chaplaincy of the continental armor army voluntarily.
And that's when the that's when the British started calling them the rebel parsons.
Because they realized that it was these pastors
that were providing the encouragement

(01:32:29):
and the impetus for the colonials to continue to fight.
You know, it wasn't coming from the politicians.
You know, if if there's gonna be any impetus for any kind of real change in America today, it's not gonna come from politicians.
Republicans are just as corrupt as Democrats.
It's gotta come from the pulpits.

(01:32:53):
It's gotta come from the pulpits, but the problem is that the pulpits really aren't much better,
and the church houses are empty.
Our gracious, our heavenly father, we thank you so much for the day you've given us. We ask you, Lord, to bless
these United States. Father, we ask your blessings and your protections upon us

(01:33:17):
as we celebrate two hundred fifty years
of our liberty, our independence, our freedoms.
Realizing that they are just
a left wind
away from

(01:33:39):
being stripped away from us,
or at least attempted to be. Because they really can't take
our rights from us because they are not the ones who
gave us our rights.
Rights are not derived from government. Our rights are derived from God who created government.

(01:34:06):
And lest we forget that,
we are doomed.
But God, I pray that you would raise up patriots in our country to defend
that which you have so
wonderfully and amazingly preserved and provided for us.

(01:34:26):
Holy father, we thank you.
We thank you that your your hand has been so visible
on us in this country
over these two hundred fifty years,
and we pray, our heavenly father, that you would continue to bless us,
protect us,

(01:34:49):
provide for us,
lead us, and show us
the path of righteousness.
And, God, let it be the pulpits around America
that shine the light of true liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ,

(01:35:10):
that sound the bell of alarm in those freedoms and liberties,
or being assaulted, attacked, and diminished.
Father, we thank you for the day you've given us. We ask you to bless it as we go forward. Father, thank you so much for all that you've done and provided for us. And, Lord, we ask your blessings on the week ahead of us, and we pray that,

(01:35:33):
you'll be with us tomorrow as we continue with another episode of the show, and then, of course, as we work our way through the week, and we meet here again for our Bible study show. So, Father, we thank you again.
We praise you. We bless you today in Jesus name.
Amen.
Alright, folks. Well,
that, that does it for tonight's
bible study.

(01:35:55):
So with that said,
just wanted to, point out, just a couple of quick things before we wrap it up. One thing is, of course, we wanna remind you about our sponsor, Pod Home. Podhome.fm,
the most modern,
easy to use podcast hosting platform.
Publish your episodes with it, enhance your audio, automatically generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and more.

(01:36:19):
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Not only that
not only that,
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(01:36:43):
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(01:37:04):
That's podhome.fm.
Alright. So quick shout out to our executive producers.
Our executive producers, Wayne and Rosanna Rankin. Thank you guys so much for what you do. Our executive producer, Carolina Jimenez,
thank you for what you do. We really do appreciate that. And of course, a shout out to our producer,

(01:37:25):
anonymous Angela.
So, folks, don't forget, tomorrow,
tomorrow night, 7PM central time, and then, of course, weeknights at 7PM central time, you have the live show, and we look forward to seeing you there. And, folks, don't forget,
keep Texas
independent.
Go podcasting.
Keep a steady stride,

(01:37:47):
and we'll see you guys
tomorrow night. Good night, folks. Goodbye.

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Exploring America's Christian Heritage (Ep. 113)

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