"As documented in my books, "1726" and "Abolitionist Founding Fathers," this Great Awakening had a direct bearing on both the founding of America and the ending of slavery on this continent. It is, therefore, not surprising that the First Continental Congress opened in 1774 with an extended time of Bible reading and prayer. Each succeeding session was then opened with prayer. During the Revolutionary War, no less than 15 proclamations for days of prayer, fasting, and thanksgiving were issued by the Continental Congress. As commander-in-chief of the American forces, George Washington ordered that each day was to begin with prayer led by the commander of each unit. He also proceeded to appoint Christian chaplains throughout the army. It was no accident that he took the very first presidential oath of office with his hand on a Bible. Yes, America's founding generation had a sense of Divine destiny. Many of those at the 1787 Constitutional Convention believed that God had led them in the formulation of the U.S. Constitution. This was the conviction of James Madison, the chief architect of the Constitution, who declared: "It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in critical stages of the Revolution" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 127)." - Eddie Hyatt
The Emancipation Proclamation was in 1862. England ended slavery almost thirty years prior. Mexico ended it in 1829. Spain way back in 1811. Denmark, Netherlands and France? All 50 years prior. You can want credit for finally ending it after a brutal and bloody war to keep it, but you cannot rewrite history Eddie. George Washington was a Third-Degree Mason - hardly compatible with Christian beliefs. As for war, it is always helpful to believe that you are on God's side. Divine destiny is not something to be bragging about. It is this sense of believing God is behind whatever you do even if it is evil at heart. Manifest destiny was the belief that White Americans were supposed to settle the North American continents. Divine destiny was an excuse used to pretend God is on your side during slavery, genocide, or any other atrocity committed in the name of "destiny."
"That the Founders wanted Christianity to spread from America's shores to the ends of the earth is obvious from their writings and prayers that they prayed. For example, Washington recorded a prayer in his prayer journal that reads, "Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 132). John Hancock, President of the Second Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, wanted the entire earth to hear the Good News of Jesus. This was made clear in a Proclamation he issued for a day of prayer and fasting while serving as governor of Massachusetts. In this 1793 Proclamation, he expressed his desire:
"That with true conversion of heart we may confess our sins, resolve to forsake them, and implore the Divine forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior . . . and finally to overrule all the commotion in the world, to the spreading of the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, in its purity and power among all the people of the earth" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 173)." - Eddie Hyatt
Another favorite pastime for Eddie is to peruse history and pluck out individual quotes without context, much like he does when he proof-texts the bible, and then try to apply it to an entire life or situation. Consider this quote:
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." - George Washington
Oops. We can play these games all day but at the end of the day George Washington was not trying to set up a theocracy and neither were any of the other founding fathers. Hancock appears to be very serious about his faith and the belief that moralism stems from religion. This is not an exercise in pretending America did not have Christian influences! Of course, it did! America was founded on a balance of ideas and remains so to this day. For every John Hancock I can point to a Thomas Jefferson, who denied the deity of Jesus Christ! The bottom line today is in the key verses. Note that while the nations will be gathered to Jesus for judgment, it is the individual people that are called to glory or condemnation. Also note that America is not spared this. Read Matthew 7 and all those who will stand before Him thinking they had a divine destiny as well only to discover that He never knew them!
"This sense of Divine destiny was expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1892 ruling in the case of Church of the Holy Trinity vs The United States. After examining thousands of historical documents, the nation's highest Court stated: "The churches and church organizations which abound in every city, town and hamlet; the multitude of charitable organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary associations, with general support and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe. These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation" ((Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 170). This sense of Divine destiny in the founding generation and succeeding generations has been extinguished by secularist historians who have re-written our history and severed our roots. It has also dampened hopes of another Great Awakening because in cutting us off from our past we have lost the sense of who we are as a nation and people." - Eddie Hyatt
