1982

SCRIPTURE: All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. Psalm 22:27-28 NIV

QUOTE: “We must understand something very thoroughly: If society, if the state gives the rights, it can take them away. They’re not unalienable. If the state gives the rights they can change them and manipulate them. But this was not the view of the Founding Fathers of this country. They believed, though not all of them were individually Christians, that there was a Creator, and that this Creator gave the unalienable rights. This upon which our country was founded, and which has given us the freedom which we still have – even the freedoms which are being used now to destroy the freedoms. The reason that these freedoms were there is because they believed there was somebody who gave the unalienable rights which indeed, therefore, limited the power of the state and the government specifically by these unalienable rights.” – Dr. Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto lecture, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, 1982 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwLDP8pocwo

THOUGHT: How is it that when I was still making every mistake possible at age 21, completely taking for granted every liberty afforded me, Francis Schaeffer was already onto something I only lately came to understand: Our country is founded on the principle that there is a Creator who endows unalienable (not transferable to another or not capable of being taken away or denied) rights. That is the fulcrum, people. The idea on which every liberty we enjoy hinges. If the state gives the rights, they can take them away. But if God gives them, they are unalienable. The Founders gave away their power rather than grasping at it, and we have been allowed to live in the shade of that choice for several centuries.

From 40 years ago, this brilliant Christian philosopher, historian and educator prophetically speaks to us today. At one point he says, “and especially the government and especially the courts have become the vehicle to force this anti-God view on the total population.”

Our government was only conceded to on the basis that it would protect God-given rights and do nothing but. In general, the Founders distrusted governments and, holding a hand to the nose, still worked to create one where the Creator God stood sovereign over all, and checks and balances ensured that no one body of government could drown out the other or the will of the people.

I just keep asking myself: would it not be cowardly or in error to be silent while their will and work are shredded? How different am I (or any of us, really) than a teenage shepherd boy determined to protect the name and reputation of his God against the giant who mocks God, making sport of the faith of a nation?

PRAYER: Great God, Creator and Sovereign of everything, may all the ends of the earth remember and turn to you, and all the families of the nations bow down before you, for dominion belongs to you and you rule over the nations.