America on the Cusp of God's Grace issues a rousing call for true, Bible-believing patriots to save America by reverting back to the august principles of our Founding Fathers. With simple, straightforward language, Dennis G. Hurst digs deep into the ideas and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded and then juxtaposes them with the sobering reality of today.

Hurst provides a history of the beginning of America, from its seventeenth-century colonies based on religious freedom to the Revolutionary War's stunning impact on the world and to the Constitutional Convention's innovative ideas. Hurst shows how faith in God guided the Founders during every step of the process and compares and contrasts this history with the present state of American culture. In addition, he looks at the damaging effects of Islam on the United States and how it has brought about a decisive, polarizing effect on ideologies today.

But Hurst doesn't stop with mere commentary and historical scholarship. Instead, he offers a blueprint for how God-loving American citizens begin a revival in their country. This includes a return to character, leadership, and integrity, plus a steady focus on Christ.

True believers were this country's founders; true believers were its sustainers; and true believers will be its rescuers, even an America on the Cusp of God's Grace!

America on the Cusp of God's Grace

The Biblical Connection to the Stars and StripesBy DENNIS G. HURST

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 Dennis G. Hurst
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-6954-4

Contents

Preface...............................................................................................................................viiIntroduction..........................................................................................................................xiChapter One: America As A Faith Haven.................................................................................................3Chapter Two: Faith In 18th Century America............................................................................................23Chapter Three: Faith And The American Revolution......................................................................................37Chapter Four: The Faith Of The Patriot................................................................................................47Chapter Five: The Faith Of A Newborn Nation...........................................................................................54Postscript............................................................................................................................61Chapter Six: Faith And The Congress Of Confederation..................................................................................65Chapter Seven: Faith And The State Governments........................................................................................73Chapter Eight: Faith And The Federal Government.......................................................................................85Chapter Nine: Faith And The New Republic..............................................................................................101Chapter Ten: The Bible, Schools, And Government.......................................................................................111Chapter Eleven: Faith and The Eternal Meaning Of July Fourth..........................................................................145Postscript............................................................................................................................149Part Three – Conflicting Ideologies One: The Qur'an And The Bible Introduction..................................................153Chapter Twelve: Faith Test - Allah the God of the Bible?..............................................................................159Chapter Thirteen: Faith Test - Who Was Muhammad?......................................................................................166Chapter Fourteen: Faith Test - Who Wrote The Qur'an?..................................................................................176Chapter Fifteen: Is Jesus of Islam The Jesus of the Bible?............................................................................180Chapter Sixteen: Qur'an and Bible Prophecy............................................................................................189Chapter Seventeen: Islam - Convert, Be Enslaved, Or Die...............................................................................195Chapter Eighteen: Faith Test - Islam A Religion Of Peace?.............................................................................210Chapter Nineteen: Faith and The Modern Islamic Army...................................................................................225Chapter Twenty: Faith, Women And Islam................................................................................................231Chapter Twenty One: At War With Whom?.................................................................................................236Chapter Twenty Two: Muslim Enmity No Stranger To United States........................................................................251Chapter Twenty Three: Ft. Hood Rules Of Engagement Too Close For Comfort..............................................................256Chapter Twenty Four: Faith - Hezbollah And Main Street................................................................................260Chapter Twenty Five: Divide et Impera - Diversity Run Amok............................................................................267Chapter Twenty Six: The Identity Enigma And Its Legacy................................................................................284Postscript............................................................................................................................301Chapter Twenty Seven: Faith - Pulpit Freedom..........................................................................................305Chapter Twenty Eight: Reclaiming America For Christ...................................................................................311Chapter Twenty Nine: A Blueprint For Revival..........................................................................................319Chapter Thirty: On Character, Leadership, Integrity...................................................................................330Chapter Thirty One: Faith Of Our Founding Fathers.....................................................................................353Chapter Thirty Two: Respect For The Flag Of Devotion..................................................................................372Chapter Thirty Three: The Flag Of The Pledge..........................................................................................388Postscript............................................................................................................................393America - Still The "City On A Hill"..................................................................................................396Appendix – The Founding Documents The Declaration of Independence...............................................................405The Constitution......................................................................................................................411The Amendments........................................................................................................................426References, Notes, Resources and Links used in the Research and Publication of America On The Cusp Of God's Grace.....................439

Chapter One

America As A Faith Haven The Seventeenth Century

Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants William Penn

Many of the British North American colonies that eventually formed the United States of America, were settled in the seventeenth century by men and women, who, in the face of European persecution, refused to compromise passionately-held religious convictions, and fled Europe for the peace and freedom of a new frontier where their faith knew no bounds.

The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established as "plantations of religion" where faith and economy coexisted side-by-side. Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives - "to catch fish" as one New Englander put it - but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct.

They enthusiastically supported the efforts of their leaders to create "a city on a hill" or a "holy experiment," whose success would prove that God's plan for his churches could be successfully realized in the American wilderness, even as He had proved the children of Israel in their own wilderness experience those many eons before. Colonies like Virginia, which were planned as commercial ventures, were led by entrepreneurs who considered themselves "militant Protestants" and who worked diligently to promote the prosperity of the church, while at once establishing commercial ventures of no small standing.

European Persecution The religious persecution that uprooted settlers from Europe to the British North American colonies sprang from the conviction, held by Protestants and Catholics alike, that uniformity of religion must exist in any given society. This conviction rested on the belief that there was one true religion and that it was the duty of the civil authorities to impose it, forcibly if necessary, in the interest of saving the souls of all citizens. Nonconformists could expect no mercy and might be executed as heretics.

The dominance of the concept, denounced by Roger Williams as "inforced uniformity of religion," meant majority religious groups who controlled political power punished dissenters in their midst. In some areas Catholics persecuted Protestants, in others Protestants persecuted Catholics, and in still others Catholics and Protestants persecuted wayward coreligionists. Although England renounced religious persecution in 1689, it persisted on the European continent.

Religious persecution, as observers in every century have commented, is often bloody and implacable and is remembered and resented for generations. Even as late as the 1940's and 50's in post-WWII England, I was witness to some wicked persecutions offered on both sides of the Protestant/Catholic spectrum; neighborhood gang warfare would be a more truthful description.

Perhaps the greatest and most famous book written about the persecution of Christian believers is Foxe's Book Of Martyrs. Sometimes referred to as the "book of martyrology," it was compiled by Englishman John Foxe (1517-1587) who published his first edition in 1554. Going on five hundred years later, this book is still in print and freely available through major booksellers. The following are just a few examples of Foxe's accounts of courageous martyrs who gave their lives for Jesus Christ, and whose unwavering faith spurred on those brave souls and their families who would endure the dangerous ocean crossing to become the founders of a new nation.

Execution of Mennonites

David van der Leyen and Levina Ghyselins, described variously as Dutch Anabaptists or Mennonites, were executed by Catholic authorities in Ghent in 1554. Strangled and burned, van der Leyen was finally dispatched with an iron pitchfork. Bracht's Martyr's Mirror is considered by modern Mennonites as second only in importance to the Bible in perpetuating their faith.

A Jesuit Disemboweled

Jesuits like John Ogilvie (Ogilby) (1580-1615) were under constant surveillance and threat from the Protestant governments of England and Scotland. Ogilvie was sentenced to death by a Glasgow court and hanged and mutilated on March 10, 1615.

The Expulsion of the Salzburgers

On October 31, 1731, the Catholic ruler of Salzburg, Austria, Archbishop Leopold von Firmian, issued an edict expelling as many as 20,000 Lutherans from his principality. Many property-less Lutherans, given only eight days to leave their homes, froze to death as they drifted through the winter seeking sanctuary. The wealthier ones who were allowed three months to dispose of their property fared better. Some of these Salzburgers reached London, from whence they sailed to Georgia. Others found new homes in the Netherlands and East Prussia.

A Pair of Salzburgers Fleeing Their Homes

In one engraving from the period, a husband and wife fled Salzburg carrying with them religious volumes. The engraving depicts the man with, under one arm, a copy of the Augsburg Confession; under the other is a theological work by Johann Arndt (1555-1621). The woman is shown carrying the Bible. The legend between them says: "We are driven into exile for the Gospel's sake; we leave our homeland and are now in God's hands." At the top is a scriptural verse, Matthew 24:20. "but pray that your flight does not occur in the winter or on the Sabbath."

Persecution of Huguenots by Catholics

The slaughter of Huguenots (French Protestants) by Catholics at Sens, Burgundy in 1562 ,occurred at the beginning of more than thirty years of religious strife between French Protestants and Catholics. These wars produced numerous atrocities. The worst was the notorious St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris, August 24, 1572. Thousands of Huguenots were butchered by Roman Catholic mobs. Although an accommodation between the two sides was sealed in 1598 by the Edict of Nantes, religious privileges of Huguenots eroded during the seventeenth century and were extinguished in 1685 by the revocation of the Edict. Perhaps as many as 400,000 French Protestants emigrated to various parts of the world, including the British North American colonies.

Drowning of Protestants

Irish Catholics were hounded and murdered at the hands of approximately one hundred Protestants from Loughgall Parish, County Armagh, at the bridge over the River Bann near Portadown, Ulster. This atrocity occurred at the beginning of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. Having held the Protestants as prisoners and tortured them, the Catholics drove them "like hogs" to the bridge, where they were stripped naked and forced into the water below at sword-point. Survivors of the plunge were shot.

Persecution of Jesuits in England

Brian Cansfield (1581-1643), a Jesuit priest was seized while at prayer by English Protestant authorities in Yorkshire. Cansfield was beaten and imprisoned under harsh conditions. He died on August 3, 1643, from the effects of his ordeal. Another Jesuit priest, Ralph Corbington (Corby) (ca. 1599-1644), was hanged by the English government in London, September 17, 1644, for professing his faith.

Martyrdom of John Rogers

The execution in 1555 of John Rogers (1500-1555) is described in the 9th edition of Foxe's book. Rogers was a Catholic priest who converted to Protestantism in the 1530's under the influence of William Tyndale, and assisted in the publication of Tyndale's English translations of the Bible. Burned alive at Smithfield on February 4, 1555, Rogers became the "first Protestant martyr" executed by England's Catholic Queen Mary. He was charged with heresy, including denial of the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of communion.

John Rogers Portrayed in New England

Two centuries after John Rogers' execution, his ordeal, with depictions of his wife and ten children added to increase the pathos, became a staple of The New England Primer. The Primer supplemented the picture of Rogers' immolation with a long, versified speech, said to be the dying martyr's advice to his children, which urged them to "Keep always God before your Eyes" and to "Abhor the arrant Whore of Rome, and all her Blasphemies." This recommendation, read by generations of young New Englanders, doubtless helped to fuel the anti-Catholic prejudice that flourished in that region well into the nineteenth century.

Crossing The Ocean To Keep The Faith: The Puritans

Puritans were English Protestants who wished to reform and purify the Church of England of what they considered to be unacceptable residues of Roman Catholicism.

In the 1620's, leaders of the English state and church grew increasingly unsympathetic to Puritan demands. They insisted that the Puritans conform to religious practices that they abhorred, removing their ministers from office and threatening them with "extirpation from the earth" if they did not fall in line. Zealous Puritan laymen received savage punishments. For example, in 1630, a man was sentenced to life imprisonment, had his property confiscated, his nose slit, an ear cut off, and his forehead branded "S.S." (sower of sedition).

Beginning in 1630, as many as 20,000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England, but some went as far as the West Indies. Theologically, the Puritans were `non-separating Congregationalists.' Unlike the Pilgrims, who came to Massachusetts in 1620, the Puritans believed that the Church of England was a true church, though in need of major reforms.

Every New England Congregational church was considered an independent entity, beholden to no hierarchy. The membership was composed, at least initially, of men and women who had undergone a conversion experience, and could prove it to other members. Puritan leaders hoped (futilely, as it turned out) that, once their experiment was successful, England would imitate it by instituting a church order modeled after the New England Way.

Richard Mather

Richard Mather (1596-1669), minister at Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1636-1669, was a principal spokesman for, and defender of, the Congregational form of church government in New England. In 1648, he drafted the Cambridge Platform, the definitive description of the Congregational system. Mather's son, Increase (1639-1723), and grandson, Cotton (1663-1728), were leaders of New England Congregationalism in their generations.

Cotton Mather

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), the best-known New England Puritan divine of his generation, was a controversial figure in his own time and remains so among scholars today. A formidable intellect and a prodigious writer, Mather published some 450 books and pamphlets. He was at the center of all of the major political, theological, and scientific controversies of his era. Mather has been accused, unfairly, of instigating the Salem witchcraft trials.

The Bible Commonwealths The New England colonies have often been called "Bible Commonwealths" because they sought the guidance of the scriptures in regulating all aspects of the lives of their citizens. Scripture was cited as authority for many criminal statutes, as .. "Idolatry: If any man after Legal Conviction shall HAVE or WORSHIP any other God but the LORD GOD, he shall be put to death, Exod. 22.20. Deut 13.6,10. Deut 17. 2,6. ... Witchcraft: If any man or woman be a WITCH, that is, Hath or Consulteth with a familiar Spirit, they shall be put to death, Exod. 22.18. Levit. 20.27 Deut 18. 10,11 Bestiality: If any Man or Woman shall LYE with any BEAST or Bruit Creature, by carnal Copulation, they shall surely be put to death, and the Beast shall be slain and buried, and not eaten, Levit. 20:15,16 ..."

The two Bibles used in seventeenth-century New England were ...

The Geneva Bible

The Geneva Bible was published in English in Geneva in 1560, by English reformers who fled to the continent to escape persecutions by Queen Mary. Their leader was William Whittingham, who married a sister of John Calvin. The Geneva Bible was used by the Pilgrims and Puritans in New England until it was gradually replaced by the King James Bible. According to one twentieth-century scholar, "between 1560 ... and 1630, no fewer than about two hundred editions of the Geneva Bible, either as a whole or of the New Testament separately, appeared. It was the Bible of Shakespeare and of John Bunyan and of Cromwell's Army and of the Pilgrim Fathers."

The King James Bible

The first edition of the King James Bible, also called the "Authorized Version," was compiled by a committee of English scholars between 1607 and 1611. The first copy of the King James Bible known to have been brought into the colonies, was carried by John Winthrop to Massachusetts in 1630. Gradually the King James Bible supplanted the Geneva Bible, and achieved such a monopoly of the affections of the English-speaking peoples, that a scholar in 1936 complained that many "seemed to think that the King James Version is the original Bible, which God handed down out of heaven, all done up in English by the Lord himself."

Seventeenth-Century Laws of Massachusetts

Criminal laws in the early New England colonies were based on the scriptures, especially the Old Testament. Many civil laws and procedures were modeled after the English common law. In addition to those cited above, some other selected Capital Laws were: Blasphemy; Murther; Poysoning; Sodomy; Adultery; Man-stealing; False-witnesse; Conspiracy, Rebellion; Children Cursing Father or Mother; Rebellious Son; Ravishment (rape) of maiden; Rape of a Child ...

The Bay Psalm Book

The first book published in British North America, what has become known as the Bay Psalm Book, was the work of Richard Mather and two other ministers, who transformed the Psalms into verse so they could be sung in the Massachusetts churches. There are but eleven surviving copies. The cover page reads: "The WHOLE Book of Psalmes, Faithfully Translated into English Metre .. Whereunto is prefixed a discourse declaring not only the lawfullnes, but also the necessity of the heavenly Ordinance of singing scripture Psalmes in the Churches of God ... Imprinted 1640"

Eliot's Algonquin Language Bible

Obedient to the New Testament command to preach the Gospel to all nations, ministers in all of the first British North American colonies strove to convert the local native populations to Christianity, often with only modest results. One of the most successful proselytizers was John Eliot (1604-1690), Congregational minister at Roxbury, Massachusetts. His translation of the Bible into the Algonquin Indian language was the first of its kind. At one time Eliot ministered to eleven hundred "Praying Indians," organized into fourteen New England style towns. A sample of the language reads: "NEGONNE OOSUKKUHWHONK MOSES, Ne afoweetamuk GENESIS ... Onk ncowau God bwequalaj, kah mo wequai .. Kah wunnaumun God wequai ne en wunueegen: Kan wutchadchaube-ponumun God nocu wequai kah noeu pohkenum .. "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness .."

Persecution In America Although they were victims of religious persecution in Europe, the Puritans supported the Old World theory that sanctioned it, the need for uniformity of religion in the state. Once in control in New England, they sought to break "the very neck of Schism and vile opinions."

The "business" of the first settlers, a Puritan minister recalled in 1681, "was not Toleration, but [they] were professed enemies of it." Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies, a fate that in 1636, befell Roger Williams, and in 1638 Anne Hutchinson, America's first major female religious leader. Those who defied the Puritans by persistently returning to their jurisdictions, risked capital punishment, a penalty imposed on four Quakers between 1659 and 1661.

Reflecting on the seventeenth century's intolerance, Thomas Jefferson was unwilling to concede to Virginians any moral superiority to the Puritans. Beginning in 1659, Virginia enacted anti-Quaker laws, including the death penalty for refractory Quakers.

Jefferson surmised that "if no capital execution took place here, as did in New England, it was not owing to the moderation of the church, or the spirit of the legislature."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from America on the Cusp of God's Graceby DENNIS G. HURST Copyright © 2010 by Dennis G. Hurst. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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