Of course, any practicing deist would never appeal to God as the supreme judge of the world since it violates their most basic tenet that God as Creator has nothing to do with the world He made! Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are not competing documents. The Declaration of Independence is the foundation for the values and birth of the nation and serves as the cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution. Hence, there was no need for the Founding Fathers to mention God in this latter document because God and His laws are already assumed as its foundation. All that to say, the United States built its view of life, liberty and justice upon biblical values and declared unambiguously that the burgeoning nation depended upon God for its existence, sustenance and prosperity." - Joseph Mattera
It is always a "tell" when someone feels the need to defend a criticism they are expecting to happen. Mattera knows he is weak on the charge of deism, so he attempts clumsily to get ahead of the subject. Considering what Jefferson removed from the bible we can safely conclude he fits Mattera's definition of a deist. He dismissed the Godhead of Christ, stemming from the resurrection. He removed the miracles of Jesus from scripture. Look, not all the founding fathers were deists, nor were they 'Christians." Some were atheists. They were not united in faith but in their desire to break free from the financial tyranny of the crown. Mattera's conclusion here about deists not using the term "Supreme Judge" is also unfounded. Being such does not mean you are getting involved in the day to day activities of the creation at all. You can be a hands-off God and still reserve final judgment over your creation. Mattera also confuses the primary belief of a deist, which was founded as a belief structure during the intellectual movements of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the creation of a "rational thought" God. The deist admitted there must be a Creator because of what nature reveals but they dismissed the revealed religions of the day and established religious authorities. It is in the dismissal that they paper over the notion of a God interacting with His creation constantly. So, what we have is a loosely affiliated group of colonists who were sick and tired of the governing and taxation abuses of England and they rebelled. In doing so they drafted an official document to declare such. The reason for this rebellion is written throughout the declaration and it sure isn't God. They make a reference to nature revealing a creator, a core tenet of deism. It is written by a deist, who rewrote the bible to remove all references to Jesus as God and His miracles. The burgeoning nation's view of life, liberty, and happiness was certainly not founded on Christianity. While we had plenty of believing patriots at the outset, to pretend they all were or that this nation was founded on Christian ideals is a rewrite of America history.
"In the past century, our nation began to gradually stray from our biblical roots and dependence upon God as its anchor and sustainer. It seems to me that the greatest value many have in this nation is the value of autonomy. In comparison, past generations (World War II and beyond) celebrated the biblical virtues of self-sacrifice and service to humanity. The present generation values the right to self-expression and self-will, irrespective of how it negatively impacts society and stability for future generations. How far have we fallen as a nation from President Kennedy's immortal inaugural address of 1961: "Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country"? One decade after President Kennedy, we began to change the laws to reflect the values of human independence from God. This change includes values such as the "right to choose" (the so-called right of the mother to terminate the life of her unborn in the womb, or partial-birth abortion, which causes the infant to be partially born so they can terminate the small human), "no-fault divorce" (which made divorce easier and contributed to the rapid decline of two-parent households), alternate forms of family and marriage, gender identification (outside the bounds of one's natural birth), and soon to come, trans-humanism, in which a robot equipped with artificial intelligence will be considered a humanoid. This will give way to birth-humans marrying robots, counting robots along with their children as part of their family, further confusing the next generation and eroding the biblical concept of biological families." - Joseph Mattera
Well all-righty. Here is a sure-fire way to ensure that Christianity does not even have a seat at the table. Bizarro conspiracy theories will only drive the lost further away from Christ. So, will using the bible as a blunt instrument instead of a two-edged sword. Mattera may even be right on his selection of issues that have led to a decline in society but the question is what is the appropriate response? Rewriting history is not the answer. This country was founded in bloodshed and rebellion and spiritually one can argue they are still at the core of our struggles. American exceptionalism is a whitewashed tomb that forgets the plight of the American Indian, the African slave or the child sweatshop worker. Listen, this is not bad mouthing this country. America remains the bastion for freedom and liberty around the world. Just stop pretending that it was founded in a tent revival and all we need is a little behavior modification from those who do not share our beliefs and everything will be ok.
"America is now at the crossroads for survival. Some say it is on the precipice of another violent civil war. (We are already a divided nation along political and ideological lines, replete with violent rhetoric and uncivil discord.) Its survival will not ultimately depend upon which political party triumphs, but upon which god wins. It will be either a continuing embrace of the god of self-expression and autonomy or a return to a dependence upon the biblical God who claims the earth for Himself and who laughs at all rulers, nations and people who attempt to rebel against Him (Ps. 2 and 24). May the United States of America not just have a Declaration of Independence, but may this nation have total dependence upon the Creator God." - Joseph Mattera
Yet who is at the center of the violent imagery? The apostate church. It supports the most unrighteous political candidates solely based upon party affiliation as if one party is heaven bound and the other by default is not. Mario Murillo, infamous dominionist, recently declared that all Democratic voters are beyond redemption and going to hell. All of them! Lunatic "Pastor" Greg Locke declared they were all demon possessed and unwelcome at his church! That's a heck of an evangelism plan! These charlatans never get the point. Forcing kids who do not know Christ to pray to Him in school saves no one. Forcing people to say Merry Christmas during a month when Jesus was not even born, saves no one. Legislation saves no one. Supreme Court decisions saves no one. Stop trying to change the culture into your perverted theocrat Shangri-La and get back to the only thing you have been assigned to and that is the gospel. Don't you get this yet? None of this other stuff matters!
Reverend Anthony Wade - July 11, 2022
