God Raised Up America
The father of our country, George Washington, declared: “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”
Revelation 12 is the only chapter in the Bible that gives, in one artist’s brushstroke, a quick view of salvation history. With that background, it is interesting what God decided to highlight. In the short space of one chapter these events are surfaced: 1) War in heaven, 2) The existance of Israel, 3) The Messiah’s birth and translation, 4) The persecution of God’s people through the dark ages, 5) The providential rise of America to “help the woman,” and 6) The final conflict against God’s remaining people just before Jesus comes. Notice that in God’s short list of important events, we find the rise of America. At this Thanksgiving season, I believe it would be appropriate to talk about just what God had in mind when He brought this nation into existance.
After years of His people being hunted like animals and truth being trampled on the ground, it was time for God to open up a new country where, under the banner of religious freedom, truth could prosper and be sent throughout the world. The many Biblical rediscoveries of the Protestant Reformation needed a place to take deeper root, grow, and be joined with new truths. From this fertile soil, missionaries would take truth to the farthest reaches of the globe, financed by a blessed and prosperous people.
The devil’s basic mode of operation is to focus his forces on whatever God is currently doing. Notice Revelation 12:17. After the “earth helped the woman” it says that “the dragon went off to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
Question: Where did the devil go off to? Through prophetic history, certain nations are highlighted as the places where the conflict is being played out. In Daniel 2, 7 and 8, one discovers that the spotlight of prophetic history moves from Babylon to Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and then to Europe. So when America rises and helps the “woman” (God’s Church and Truth), where does the devil focus his attacks? You’re right: at America. He “went off to make war” meaning he crossed the ocean from Europe to America. That is why the next verse, Revelation 13:1, says, “And he stood on the sand of the seashore…” There he stood after going off from where he was to his new focus. He crossed the ocean and beckoned forth his two big guns for the final showdown: the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth. Identifying those two is a subjest for a future newsletter.
God’s plan for America was to spread Bible truth to the world. The devil’s plan was to keep the Reformation truths from taking root here and to keep new truths from flourishing in the new soil. In fact, hindsight reveals that the devil’s plan included the creation and promulgation of diversionary “truths.” How has it gone?
The parting words of Pastor Robinson before he sent off his little group aboard the Mayflower to the New World, described by one of his followers are as follows: “the Lutherans, they could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw…and so also you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them…for though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them. (And if they were living) they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light, as that they had received. Here also he put us in mind of our Church-Covenant whereby we promise and covenant with God and one another, to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from his written Word: but (he) exhorted us to take heed what we received for truth, and well to examine and compare, and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth before we received it; For (he said), It is not possible (that) the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick Anti-Christian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once.”
God was planting the seed for America through the Mayflower. In fact, at the 300th year commemoration of the sailing of that little ship, the speaker Sir Isaac Foote made this astonishing claim: that over 50% of those who have figured prominently in shaping America could trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower! It is as though God was establishing the DNA for America through the Mayflower. So, how has it gone? What Protestant truths have been preserved and spread, and what new truths have been discovered and allowed to flourish? We might note at this juncture that through history there is a definite pattern of God planning new movements and the devil successfully foiling God’s plans: The pre-flood era, ancient Israel, and the Christian Church through the dark ages are the best examples. Sad to say, in war, the one who successfully employs deception has an advantage. God does not and cannot deceive, so it puts Him at a temporary disadvantage—only temporary.
Let us review a sample of old Protestant doctrine and a sample of newly discovered truths and see how they are doing. During the 18th century, most protestant churches of America believed and taught the day-for-a-year principle of prophecy concerning the 1260 day prophecy now referred to as the Dark Ages. Futurism had not taken root. In fact, president John Quincy Adams proclaimed May 9, 1798, as a day of “fasting, humiliation, and prayer” in light of the ominous events going on in Europe and their impact on America. What events? The French Revolution was in full swing, Napoleon was marching across Europe, and the Pope had been taken captive in February of the same year. On May 9, 1798, many pastors in America preached sermons describing how the captivity of the pope marked the end of the 1260-year reign of the “little horn.” Today that belief has been replaced with futurism in Protestant pulpits.
What about new truths? In 1664, Stephen Mumford, a Seventh-day Baptist pastor, came to America and started the first Sabbath keeping church in Newport. How did the Sabbath truth fair in America? Quite well at first. In fact, the Hopkinton, Rhode Island, Seventh-day Baptist Church, started by some from Newport migrating west, became the largest church in the colonies boasting 900 members. One prominent member of the Newport SDB church was Samuel Ward, a member of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia and governor of Rhode Island. His granddaughter, Julia Ward Howe, authored the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Dr. Joshua Babcock, a close friend of Benjamin Franklin and his fishing buddy, was a Seventh-day Baptist.
However, it was not until the arrival of the Advent Movement in the 1840’s that the Sabbath really took root in a way that sent that truth around the world. It is interesting to note that James White, one of the foremost founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, could trace his ancestry to one known as William White on the Mayflower. In fact, William White’s wife, Susanna, gave birth to Peregrine White while the Mayflower was docked in Provincetown Harbor, the first European baby born in the new world.
America became a land that has sent out more missionaries to the world than any other. God’s vision was that those missionaries take the beliefs of the Protestant Reformation to the world including such new discoveries as the Sabbath. That has happened to some degree, but to a larger degree, the free soil of America has been a fertile place for new deceptions such as “futurism” to take root and spread around the globe. The cosmic conflict isn’t over yet, but the good news is that God will prevail!
So, during the Thanksgiving season, thank God for America! She was a jewel in His hand; a piece of His creative imagination. This land has blessed much of the world with freedom and has spread the gospel far and wide. In a latter newsletter we will give more insights on the future for America according to Revelation 13. Until next week, enjoy your freedom!
Dennis
dennispumford.com
convert this post to pdf.
Related Articles
No user responded in this post