Exploring the odious replacement theology where Israel is now America...

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"Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil - Matthew 5:33-37 (ESV)

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/81732-the-responsibility-that-comes-with-america-s-sacred-covenant-with-god

Eddie Hyatt over at Charisma News only writes about two subjects. The first is allowing women to preach with authority over men and the second is the butchering of American history to prop up his NAR dominionism. As a former US History teacher and former AG minister, I am unsure if I have come across someone who knows so little about either subject pretending to be an expert in both. We must understand that the dominionist is always facing a losing argument because their presuppositions are never based in fact. The point of difference many fail to understand is it is ok to say that America is not righteous and still believe that from a carnal perspective it has been the greatest country in history. Being carnally great does not equate to being spiritually righteous. Make no mistake about it beloved, Jesus is coming back and America will be judged as will all nations. The bible does not promise us a grand end times revival but rather and end times apostasy. That apostasy is well underway, being led by the aforementioned NAR.

So because history does not support this "righteous America" construct, the dominionist is left to lie about what happened hundreds of years ago. They will point to references to God from some founding fathers and ignore proof of the opposite. No one is arguing that this country was founded by atheists, although there were a few. Neither though was it founded by charismatic evangelicals. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Many were deists, who believed in "a" god, not the God. Jefferson himself rewrote the bible and removed all references to the miracles of Christ as well as any mention of His deity. So do not fall for the usual rhetoric about people not liking this country. It has nothing to do with that. It is about not deifying this country. It is about not worshiping this country. It is about not idolizing this country. Above is the fourth of July article from Eddie Hyatt that shows so well where this false theology, which has gripped the majority of churchgoers today, goes so far off the rails. I am not going to respond to every word because Eddie likes to hear himself talk too much. So much so that he has seven footnotes and they are all referencing books written by Eddie Hyatt. Did you get that? In order to provide "proof" for his silliness, he only quotes himself. You just can't make this stuff up. Let us reason once more together:

The earliest immigrants to this land believed that they, as a people, had entered into a sacred covenant with God. This was clearly expressed by John Winthrop who, in 1630, led a flotilla of eleven ships with 700 passengers to New England and founded the city of Boston and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During their journey across the Atlantic, Winthrop formulated a sermon entitled "A Model of Christian Charity." In it he exhorted his fellow pilgrims that "the eyes of the world are upon us" and that God would have them, in their new home, to be that "city on a hill" of which Jesus spoke, a shining light exhibiting a model of Christian living for the rest of mankind to see. He also spoke of the seriousness of the covenant with God into which they had entered. He exhorted, "We have entered into an explicit covenant with God. We have drawn up indentures with the Almighty, wherefore if we succeed and do not let ourselves be diverted into making money, He will reward us. Whereas if we fail, if we fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, the Lord will surely break out in wrath and make us know the price of the breach of such a Covenant" (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 28-29)." - Eddie Hyatt

There is no question that John Winthrop believed what he believed. He was a Puritan who believed in a theocratic government. Church in early Massachusetts colony was mandatory and you were fined if you skipped service. I seriously doubt that today's Christians could even survive the vision John Winthrop had for Christian society. As a Puritan Winthrop might have been devout but that does not mean that his vision of religion is what has lasted until this day. In fact, less than 10 years of his passing saw his colony executing Quakers. 10 years prior to his passing saw the Pequot War, where the Pequot Indians were killed and those that survived sold into slavery. I take no issue with the argument of culture and the folly of comparing today to 200 years ago and applying the same lens. The problem is that is exactly what Hyatt wants to do on the flip side. Because he found a guy who landed here that espoused puritanical beliefs he wants to jettison him into the 21^st century and hold him up as some proof that this country has somehow always been Christian. Absolute nonsense and a mangling of true history.

"The late Harvard professor Perry Miller considered this to be America's true founding because Winthrop's clearly articulated vision and purpose, he believed, defined the nation. He went on to say, A society that is both clear and articulate about its intentions is something of a rarity in modern history. Most of the nations of Europe and Asia grew up by chance and by accident either of geography or politics. This was not the case with America. Those first immigrants to America came with a clearly articulated vision, which they recorded in written documents--documents they considered to be covenants with God. Ten years before Winthrop and his company arrived, the Pilgrims had landed at Cape Cod. Before disembarking, they drew up a written document patterned after the church covenants that were common among Separatist churches in England. Being part of a Separatist congregation, they were very aware of such documents, which knit the signees together in a solemn, contractual agreement with God and one another. In the Mayflower Compact, each signee promised "solemnly and mutually in the presence of God" to "covenant together" for the better ordering and preservation of their community. This covenant also stated that their purpose in coming to the New World was to glorify God and advance the Christian faith." - Edie Hyatt

Hyatt cites a couple more examples of early settlements declaring a covenant with God. He admits however that such covenant documents were central to the Church of England at that time. It is simply how the church was organized. Here comes the not so deep theological question though. Does the fact that John Winthrop or the folks on the Mayflower, who were considered outcasts from the church, declared a covenant with God mean that they were actually in covenant with God? Of course not. Now, for those individuals, they may certainly have believed it. They may certainly live their lives accordingly, although I am not sure the executed Quakers would agree they did. The snake oil part of this argument is that because John Winthrop agreed to covenant with God that somehow God is now culpable to be in covenant with the country that would eventually become America and even up to this day. That is the dominionist argument though. That because some people, escaping religious persecution, declared covenant that everyone today is under the same covenant. Just take a look at the key verses, taught by Jesus Himself. It used to be said do not swear falsely but now Jesus says do not take an oath at all, either by heaven or earth. A covenant is an agreement, or an oath. Essentially the deep theology for today is do not tell God what you swear you are going to do what He commands - just do it.

"These early immigrants saw Israel in the Old Testament as a pattern for their social covenant with God. Like Israel, they believed that if they, as a people, kept their part of the covenant, which was to walk uprightly and make His name known, they would be blessed. If, on the other hand, they lost their sense of purpose and began to live selfish and sinful lives, they would suffer God's wrath because of their rejection of the covenant. During the voyage to New England, Winthrop warned, "Now if the Lord shall please to bear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He verified this Covenant and sealed our commission ... but if we fail to perform the terms of the Covenant, we shall perish out the land we are crossing the sea to possess" (Hyatt, 1726: The Year That Defined America, 32)." - Eddie Hyatt

Enter replacement theology. This is where people wrongly assert that the church or even worse, this country, has replaced Israel. Absolute rubbish. God made His covenant with Israel. The church is grafted in. Moreover, they failed to learn the principle lesson from the Old Testament - no one can keep the law! That is why God needed to send His Son in the first place! What Winthrop did on the voyage over is essentially a pagan belief. It is similar to what we do today when seeking charismatic "confirmation." IF situation "A" occurs then God must have not only ordained it but is now somehow beholden to it. This is simply not how God works beloved. His Word already contains all of His revelation and promises. Making a deal to keep that word in exchange for something not in His word? Yeah that is not going to work.

"This social sense of responsibility to God is the reason the Puritans tended to hold one another accountable. They believed that since communities and nations cannot be rewarded in the next world, they must necessarily be rewarded in this one, according to their deeds. The sin of one or a few could, therefore, bring down God's judgment on the entire community. This is also the reason that laws were passed outlawing adultery, fornication, profanity, drunkenness and Sabbath breaking." - Eddie Hyatt

Huh? I can't believe Eddie actually wrote this. So the Puritans believed that since nations cannot be rewarded in the next world they must be rewarded in this one? Says no biblical text anywhere. It rains on the just and the unjust in this world. Again, they are basing this on the Old Testament and stories like the sin of Achan. That is historical narrative however and not designed to be applied to our lives. Notice here however are the underpinnings for what the NAR dominionist of today would become. The notion of temporal blessings for a nation is not found anywhere in scripture but is central to the NAR. The notion that those pesky sinners ruin everything for the rest of us God-fearing folks is a core doctrine of dominionism. I have said it before though - behavior modification does not save anyone. Convincing sinners to sin less does not change their status as sinners. Get back to the Gospel for it alone can save someone.

'Although New England was where the writing of constitutions was profoundly developed, all the colonies were founded on similar social compacts with God. When the Jamestown settlers disembarked at Cape Henry, Virginia, their first act was to erect a seven-foot cross they had brought from England. They then gathered around the cross for a prayer service in which they dedicated the land of their new home to God. In his dedicatory prayer, their chaplain, Rev. Robert Hunt, declared, "From these very shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only this New World but to the entire world."' - Eddie Hyatt

Yes there is no doubt that the people who settled here were religious Eddie. That is the only fact you present but it does not translate into the heresy you spew. You see the Gospel is not the only thing that went forth from those shores. Genocide also went forth so that we might conquer the new world which would lead to the concept of Manifest Destiny in the 1800s. Look, America was and is the best experiment in the history of pagan nations but it remains a pagan nation. The very colony that Winthrop presided over would eventually be the same place that the Salem Witch Trials would emanate from. So I would hold off on the canonization for now.

'There are amazing similarities between the Virginia Charter, the Mayflower Compact and other founding documents of New England. This led Perry Miller to suggest that Virginia and New England were not that different. He pointed out that both communities were children of the Reformation, "and what we consider distinctively Puritan was really the spirit of the times."

There is thus no question that these early social compacts, or covenants, were precursors to the founding documents of the United States of America. Gary Amos and Richard Gardiner are correct to say, "The early New England constitutions were covenants. These covenants clearly foreshadowed the United States Constitution" (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 33).

... Will we renew the American covenant? It begins with God's people taking seriously their role in the health of a nation as expressed in 2 Chronicles 7:14: "if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."' - Eddie Hyatt

The US Constitution is certainly not a puritan document. This is criminal to both history and God. Look at the question Hyatt actually poses here. Will we renew the American covenant? There never was an American covenant! To then mix in the Chronicles verse, which every dominionist loves but does not understand, is even worse! This historical narrative is about Israel, not America. What is the difference? Israel was a theocracy set apart by God Himself. America is a melting pot of people from all walks of life and faith across the entire world. Eddie is so blinded by his idolatry of this world that he never sees how close he gets. If the people called by name, Christians, would turn from their wicked ways then God would heal their land. What wicked ways? All of the false teachings and heresies that are leading millions to hell. Then the lost would truly see the church as a city set upon a hill. Then they would want what we have. Unfortunately, the bible tells us this is not coming to pass. The end times are upon us and the apostasy has begun. Do not fall for the worship of this pagan nation beloved. Do not fall for the fairy tales of America's past that cobbles together pious sounding folks amidst great sin and pretends that God is waiting for us to restore a covenant He never made. Do not tell Him what you promise you will do - just do it. Let your yes be yes and leave the Edie Hyatt's of the world to await their coming destruction.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 5, 2020

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.