Tim Barton joins Allen Jackson to talk about America's history and heritage.
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Allen Jackson NOW | Allen Jackson: The American Story | Allen Jackson Now | July 4, 2025
- But we had a great treat this morning.
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- Our speaker is not really a guest.
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- He's a part of our family.
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- He just doesn't reside here full time yet.
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- So you've never heard tim barton?
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- You're in for a treat.
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- He's the president of wallbuilders.
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- I first heard tim's father, david, many years ago,
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- Speaking at another church in murfreesboro,
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- And i was completely intrigued at his
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- Understanding of our history
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- And the impact of our faith upon the story of our nation.
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- You know, history is constantly being written and rewritten.
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- Every new generation of phds in schools required to do
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- Original research,
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- Which means they're supposed
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- To find something that's never been found before,
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- Which means history is continually being revised.
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- And for several decades, it's not been to the benefit
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- Of those of us with a christian worldview.
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- They have buried the lead.
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- They've hidden our story.
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- They've tried to separate us from our heritage.
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- And wallbuilders and tim barton
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- And those who work with him are very diligently working
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- To be certain that we don't lose our heritage.
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- There's a
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- Couple of resources he brought very graciously.
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- There's a two volume workout
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- In the lobby called the american story.
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- This one i have in my hand is building the republic.
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- The first volume is about the founders.
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- There's a founders bible out there.
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- They're just great tools.
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- I have encouraged you for some time
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- To keep a little micro library at home, a set of tools
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- To help you shepherd somebody through spiritual formation.
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- And i think these books would be wonderful resources,
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- Particularly for children
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- And young people and adults who have a,
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- You know, if you learned history from a coach in school
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- That didn't want to be in the classroom
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- Any more than you did,
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- There might be some gaps.
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- And those resources would be a great resource
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- For you in those libraries.
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- They're out there in the lobby.
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- I don't want to take any more of his time.
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- I've already cheated a little bit. help me welcome tim barton.
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- I want to start this morning with a bible verse.
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- Hopefully it's one that we're familiar with.
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- Have not added to your memory list.
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- Unless the lord builds the house,
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- They labor in vain that build it.
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- That the principle behind this is if god's not a part
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- Of what you're doing,
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- It's probably not going to work very well.
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- And another similar thought from psalms.
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- To add to this thought is if the foundations are destroyed,
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- What can the righteous do?
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- So if god's not a part of it, it's not going to work.
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- But then
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- If god is a part of something and then you remove
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- The foundation, what you have built is not going to last.
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- And this is a reality for us as a nation we live in.
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- A lot of people don't understand
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- How much god was a part of the story.
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- And what we have done in more recent decades
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- Is there's been a very intentional move
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- To try to remove the foundation.
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- Now, if you're not familiar with the foundation,
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- I want to take time this morning and go through
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- And show some of that to you
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- And help you see and make some connections
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- Of what this foundation really is.
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- And let me start, first of all, with the constitution.
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- The reason i'm starting here
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- Is because you live in a very unique place
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- With our nation having more stability, prosperity,
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- Longevity, and so many things.
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- We could talk about more freedoms
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- At times than anywhere else in the world.
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- And understanding this, there was a group of professors
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- That asked,
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- What maybe is a really good
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- Question is what is the average length
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- Of a constitution in the history of the world?
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- Now, specifically, these are professors
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- From the university of chicago, from the law school.
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- And they said, let's dig into this,
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- Because in america we kind of see how long we've lasted.
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- But is that normal?
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- What do most nations look like?
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- And what they discovered
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- Is that the average length of a constitution
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- In the history of the world is 17 years.
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- To give you
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- Perspective, we are 238 years into our constitution.
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- Every single,
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- Every single september 17th, we set a new world
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- Record for the nation living the longest
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- Under a single document, a constitution.
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- And also there were professors recognizing
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- That america was unique and different.
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- They actually had a different question.
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- And these are professors from the university of houston.
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- And they said, well,
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- We understand that the constitution
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- Has lasted a really long time.
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- What is made the constitution different than other nations?
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- Why is ours worked for others have not worked very well.
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- And so they decided they wanted to go back
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- And they wanted to dive in to see what are the founding
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- Fathers put into this one that made it different
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- And their initial idea
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- Was they said, well, let's go study their writings.
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- If if we look at their writings and then we find who
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- They quoted in their writings, and then we'll see
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- Who was maybe important to them by what they're quoting,
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- And maybe we can find what their influence is,
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- Where we can see these ideas.
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- Well, what they ultimately decided is they would go back
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- In from 1760 to 1810, 50 year period.
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- They're going to go through.
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- They determined about 15,000 representative writings.
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- They said, let's read these writings
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- And let's find any quote we can.
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- Now, this project was done back in the 1970s and 1980s.
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- The reason this matters for our understanding is because
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- If you're reading a founding father document back then
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- And you see them use quotation marks,
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- You go, okay, well, let's find out where this quote came from.
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- There is no internet yet.
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- So if you find a quote, you know what they had to do?
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- They had to go to the library
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- And they got all of their grad students to help them.
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- And they said, everybody get a book,
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- Start reading, see if we can find this quote.
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- Well, ultimately,
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- They found more than 3000 quotes in the founders writings.
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- They tracked them all back to original sources.
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- It took them about ten years to do this project.
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- Again, there's no internet, there's
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- No google, there's no quick search on this.
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- But after ten years, they said, okay,
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- We have a really good understanding
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- Of where the founding fathers
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- Came up with their ideas, of what shaped their ideas
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- And what they identified was in this book is called
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- The origins of american constitutionalism.
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- And you can actually still get this book today.
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- You can go through and you can see
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- The compilation of this data and their research.
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- What they discovered was the number one
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- Most cited individual from the founding
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- Fathers was charles montesquieu.
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- He's the one that did the spirit of the laws.
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- 8.3% of the quotes
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- They found in those writings came from charles montesquieu.
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- Second most quoted was william blackstone.
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- He did the commentaries and the laws of england,
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- Very influential on the formation of laws in america.
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- The third most cited was john locke.
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- Now john locke was the most cited
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- During the american revolution, but after the revolution
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- He wasn't cited all of that much.
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- Those are the top three cited individuals.
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- But what the professors discovered is there was a source
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- That was far more significant than any individual,
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- And it was the bible.
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- And it was the bible.
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- 34% of all the quotes they
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- Found in the founders writings came from the bible.
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- To go further, they acknowledged we only were looking up
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- What was in quotation marks.
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- They said, how do we include it in our counting?
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- The obvious references
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- To scripture that weren't in quotation marks.
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- The number would have been far higher than 34%
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- Of what was in the founders writings coming from the bible.
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- Now, why did this matter?
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- Because they identified these professors
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- Who were not like conservative christian professors.
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- They were just intellectually honest.
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- They said, it is so clear
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- That the most influential
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- Document for the founding fathers was the bible.
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- That is not clear for most people today.
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- That's not what's taught today.
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- It's not in most history books today.
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- But if you go back to previous
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- Generations, back in the 19th century,
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- There was a guy named stephen caldwell.
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- He was a author, he was an educator,
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- He was a politician involved in lots of stuff.
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- But he actually wrote about the founding fathers.
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- And here's part of what he acknowledged.
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- And this is the mid 1800s.
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- But here's what he said about the founding fathers.
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- It was in the spirit of true christianity
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- That the hospitality and blessings of
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- The united states were offered to all the world.
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- All were invited to enjoy it.
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- The christian men of that day intended that
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- The nation should continue to be a christian nation.
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- They did not place christianity beneath nor
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- Over their political situations.
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- Rather,
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- It was to be the atmosphere
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- Which they breathe to administer them.
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- It was the source of their inspiration,
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- And they sought to make the blessing available
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- For human advantage.
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- These institutions and laws were to be the instruments
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- Of christian men for the good of the whole human family.
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- Now i want to point out in the midst of this longer quote,
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- And you actually can go back
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- And read the whole book if you want to.
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- But he says christianity was the atmosphere
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- In which they were breathing as they produce
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- Everything that they were developing.
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- Now, part of what is significant about this
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- Is this is acknowledging.
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- It's like saying that
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- You need to have gas in the car for the car to run, right?
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- Like you can do whatever you want to the car.
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- When they wrote the constitution,
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- There's seven articles of constitution.
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- They're covering different things
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- From the legislative to the executive, judicial.
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- They're laying out all the details.
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- But what he acknowledged
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- Is that no matter what they did to the car,
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- The gas that allowed this car to work was christianity.
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- We're not going to dive deep, but i want to show you
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- How obvious it would have been to people that studied history.
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- The impact of the bible in america,
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- Starting, for example, 1647.
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- This is where the very first education law
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- Was passed in america.
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- It was done by the pilgrims, by the puritans.
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- The reason they pass an education
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- Law is because as you're coming to america,
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- They're coming with their kids.
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- And they were concerned that their kids
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- Have a proper education.
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- So they do the very first education law.
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- It was printed in the code of the 1650s.
- 00:09:19.753 --> 00:09:21.788
- This is something you actually can find online.
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- You can go and read this.
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- The name of the education law was the old diluted satan act.
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- Now you'll see why when we actually read the law.
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- But it's also worth noting in 1650
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- There was no standardized spelling yet that came largely
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- From noah webster in the blue back speller.
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- So back in the 1600s,
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- There's no such thing as a right or wrong way to spell a word.
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- You just sound it out and you put it down.
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- I'm saying that
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- Because we're about to read something
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- And most of the words are misspelled.
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- Ignore that part and notice what they are saying.
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- So you see, it's a section on schools.
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- And here's the law.
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- It being the one chief project that old satan
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- To keep men from the knowledge of scripture,
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- As in former times, keeping them in an unknown tongue.
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- The law goes on to say it used to be
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- The bible wasn't available in english.
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- We didn't know the bible.
- 00:10:10.737 --> 00:10:11.738
- Now the bible is available in english,
- 00:10:11.738 --> 00:10:13.106
- But if we don't teach our kids to read,
- 00:10:13.106 --> 00:10:14.240
- They'll never know what the bible says.
- 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:15.742
- We need to make sure our kids can reach the end of the bible.
- 00:10:15.742 --> 00:10:18.645
- But notice the premise of the law.
- 00:10:18.645 --> 00:10:21.481
- The devil's primary objective is to keep us from the knowledge
- 00:10:21.481 --> 00:10:24.451
- Of the word of god,
- 00:10:24.451 --> 00:10:25.919
- And what they acknowledge is,
- 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:27.020
- If our kids can't read the devil's winning,
- 00:10:27.020 --> 00:10:29.189
- We have to make sure kids can reach.
- 00:10:29.189 --> 00:10:30.757
- They have a bible.
- 00:10:30.757 --> 00:10:32.058
- This is the law that started the very first school in america,
- 00:10:32.058 --> 00:10:35.829
- Which was the birth of public schools.
- 00:10:35.829 --> 00:10:38.131
- Public schools
- 00:10:38.465 --> 00:10:39.299
- Started to make sure kids could read
- 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:41.701
- So they would know what the bible said.
- 00:10:41.701 --> 00:10:43.136
- That's actually the reason schools started in america.
- 00:10:43.136 --> 00:10:46.106
- Now, that's not the reason schools exist primarily today,
- 00:10:46.106 --> 00:10:50.076
- But this is the reason it started.
- 00:10:50.076 --> 00:10:51.344
- It's from the very first law.
- 00:10:51.344 --> 00:10:52.412
- In fact,
- 00:10:52.412 --> 00:10:53.313
- If you go forward a little bit, in 1690,
- 00:10:53.313 --> 00:10:54.948
- They produced the very first textbook in english in america.
- 00:10:54.948 --> 00:10:57.717
- Also worth noting,
- 00:10:57.717 --> 00:10:58.818
- If you go back and look at early american education,
- 00:10:58.818 --> 00:11:01.654
- They educated boys and girls.
- 00:11:01.654 --> 00:11:03.823
- Now, why this is important
- 00:11:03.823 --> 00:11:05.158
- Is because in the 17th and 18th century,
- 00:11:05.158 --> 00:11:07.193
- The highest literacy rate for women anywhere in the world
- 00:11:07.193 --> 00:11:10.063
- Was in the new england colonies of america
- 00:11:10.063 --> 00:11:12.031
- Because they believed everybody, boys and girls, should know
- 00:11:12.031 --> 00:11:14.834
- The bible.
- 00:11:14.834 --> 00:11:22.005
- The bible.
- 00:11:22.005 --> 00:11:25.578
- Well, in 1690 they produced
- 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:27.547
- The very first textbook published in english in america.
- 00:11:27.547 --> 00:11:30.049
- It was the new england premier,
- 00:11:30.049 --> 00:11:31.451
- And this was a first grade textbook.
- 00:11:31.451 --> 00:11:33.553
- Now back then they called them levels. there were eight levels.
- 00:11:33.553 --> 00:11:36.256
- And so they said this is level one.
- 00:11:36.256 --> 00:11:38.124
- And that was important because no matter
- 00:11:38.124 --> 00:11:39.893
- What age you start, if it was 4 or 14,
- 00:11:39.893 --> 00:11:42.762
- You start with level one.
- 00:11:42.762 --> 00:11:44.130
- Once you pass level one you go to level two.
- 00:11:44.130 --> 00:11:46.232
- And this is level one.
- 00:11:46.232 --> 00:11:47.667
- This was used from 1690 all the way through the early
- 00:11:47.667 --> 00:11:51.137
- 1900s.
- 00:11:51.137 --> 00:11:51.971
- Every public school kid first grade.
- 00:11:51.971 --> 00:11:54.174
- This is what they did.
- 00:11:54.174 --> 00:11:55.842
- Well, as you go through this first grade,
- 00:11:55.842 --> 00:11:57.877
- You can imagine we want to teach kids to read.
- 00:11:57.877 --> 00:11:59.479
- Okay, easy.
- 00:11:59.479 --> 00:12:00.280
- So we have the alphabet in there.
- 00:12:00.280 --> 00:12:02.215
- Well, this is the picture alphabet
- 00:12:02.215 --> 00:12:03.950
- In the new england primary.
- 00:12:03.950 --> 00:12:04.851
- You notice in the left is the alphabet.
- 00:12:04.851 --> 00:12:06.753
- And there's a picture on the right side is the explanation.
- 00:12:06.753 --> 00:12:08.988
- So a and adam's fall we send
- 00:12:08.988 --> 00:12:11.791
- And i know it looks like we find all that's old english.
- 00:12:11.791 --> 00:12:14.093
- It's actually we send all. but look at the picture.
- 00:12:14.093 --> 00:12:16.729
- That's a man or woman by a fruit tree.
- 00:12:16.729 --> 00:12:18.231
- There's a snake around the fruit tree.
- 00:12:18.231 --> 00:12:19.465
- B happened to find the bible.
- 00:12:19.465 --> 00:12:21.201
- Mine is a picture of a man
- 00:12:21.201 --> 00:12:22.202
- Holding a bible looking up to heaven.
- 00:12:22.202 --> 00:12:23.870
- See, christ crucified for sinners
- 00:12:23.870 --> 00:12:25.738
- Died in the bottom right of that picture.
- 00:12:25.738 --> 00:12:27.607
- There's the three magi. above them is a stable.
- 00:12:27.607 --> 00:12:29.676
- There's a star by the stable, a cross on a hill.
- 00:12:29.676 --> 00:12:32.312
- This is profoundly religious for learning the alphabet,
- 00:12:32.312 --> 00:12:35.582
- But it's because the point of education
- 00:12:36.382 --> 00:12:37.884
- Wasn't just to learn to read,
- 00:12:37.884 --> 00:12:40.019
- It was to learn the knowledge of the bible.
- 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:41.721
- In fact,
- 00:12:41.721 --> 00:12:42.622
- If you keep going when you come to h, it
- 00:12:42.622 --> 00:12:44.057
- Says, my book and heart must never part.
- 00:12:44.057 --> 00:12:46.326
- It's a picture of a heart with a bible inside of it. why?
- 00:12:46.326 --> 00:12:49.629
- Because we were teaching kids psalms 119.
- 00:12:49.629 --> 00:12:52.165
- That word of i hidden in my heart
- 00:12:52.165 --> 00:12:53.900
- That i might have sinned against.
- 00:12:53.900 --> 00:12:55.101
- He was saying, kids, here's what you do with god's word.
- 00:12:55.101 --> 00:12:57.103
- You put it in your heart.
- 00:12:57.103 --> 00:12:58.438
- That's where it belongs.
- 00:12:58.438 --> 00:13:00.139
- Well, this was the first alphabet,
- 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:01.808
- The picture alphabet, the next page.
- 00:13:01.808 --> 00:13:04.010
- After this, they had an alphabet of lessons for you.
- 00:13:04.010 --> 00:13:06.379
- And that alphabet.
- 00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:07.413
- It says a y son.
- 00:13:07.413 --> 00:13:08.882
- Make it the glad father.
- 00:13:08.882 --> 00:13:10.250
- But a foolish son is a heaven is of his mother.
- 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.285
- Be better is a little with the fear of the lord
- 00:13:12.285 --> 00:13:14.354
- Than great treasure and trouble therewith see coming to christ
- 00:13:14.354 --> 00:13:17.457
- All you that labor and are heavy laden.
- 00:13:17.457 --> 00:13:19.025
- He will give you rest on it goes through z,
- 00:13:19.025 --> 00:13:21.394
- And every one is a bible verse.
- 00:13:21.394 --> 00:13:23.496
- Why are we using bible verses to learn the alphabet?
- 00:13:24.530 --> 00:13:27.233
- Because that was the point of education.
- 00:13:27.233 --> 00:13:29.636
- We wanted our kids to know the knowledge
- 00:13:29.636 --> 00:13:31.304
- Of the word of god, in fact, so much
- 00:13:31.304 --> 00:13:33.606
- That we want them to know this knowledge.
- 00:13:33.606 --> 00:13:34.974
- At the end of the new england primer,
- 00:13:34.974 --> 00:13:36.976
- The last thing in this little textbook
- 00:13:36.976 --> 00:13:38.945
- Was westminster shorter catechism.
- 00:13:38.945 --> 00:13:41.681
- Now that's more than 100 questions on faith and theology.
- 00:13:41.681 --> 00:13:44.684
- Keep in mind this is first grade.
- 00:13:44.684 --> 00:13:46.786
- Let me show you one of these questions.
- 00:13:46.786 --> 00:13:48.621
- Easy example. question 36.
- 00:13:48.621 --> 00:13:51.457
- What are the benefits which in this life do accompany
- 00:13:51.457 --> 00:13:53.760
- Or flow from justification, adoption and sanctification?
- 00:13:53.760 --> 00:13:57.797
- Easy first grade questions.
- 00:13:58.398 --> 00:14:00.833
- Dog cat. sanctification?
- 00:14:00.833 --> 00:14:02.769
- No problem. right? okay.
- 00:14:02.769 --> 00:14:05.505
- Why in the world are you asking first graders these questions?
- 00:14:05.505 --> 00:14:09.642
- We'll notice right below the q is the a the answer?
- 00:14:09.642 --> 00:14:13.579
- The only reason you ask this kind of question is
- 00:14:13.579 --> 00:14:15.915
- You want kids to have the knowledge of the answer.
- 00:14:15.915 --> 00:14:18.217
- We wanted kids to know you've been justified
- 00:14:18.217 --> 00:14:20.687
- By the work of jesus in the cross.
- 00:14:20.687 --> 00:14:21.754
- You've been adopted, the family of god.
- 00:14:21.754 --> 00:14:23.056
- You're being sanctified to the power of the holy spirit.
- 00:14:23.056 --> 00:14:25.124
- We wanted kids to know this,
- 00:14:25.124 --> 00:14:26.659
- And this is what every single first grader in america
- 00:14:26.659 --> 00:14:29.762
- Got from 1690 through the early 1900s.
- 00:14:29.762 --> 00:14:33.499
- This is part of that foundation today.
- 00:14:33.499 --> 00:14:35.601
- Most people don't know of incredibly well documented,
- 00:14:35.601 --> 00:14:38.838
- And this is part of what we used to know and do.
- 00:14:38.838 --> 00:14:41.741
- In fact,
- 00:14:41.741 --> 00:14:42.542
- If you go forward to the founding
- 00:14:42.542 --> 00:14:43.376
- Era, the founding fathers grow up.
- 00:14:43.376 --> 00:14:44.644
- They're using a new england primer.
- 00:14:44.644 --> 00:14:46.112
- But in 1781, we're in the middle of the revolution.
- 00:14:46.112 --> 00:14:48.614
- And as we are navigating,
- 00:14:48.614 --> 00:14:50.383
- One of the things that we have
- 00:14:50.383 --> 00:14:51.317
- Dealt with being british colonies
- 00:14:51.317 --> 00:14:53.019
- Up until this moment is british law.
- 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:55.121
- Well, one of the things from british
- 00:14:55.121 --> 00:14:56.389
- Law actually goes back to king james.
- 00:14:56.389 --> 00:14:58.257
- When king james came out with his bible,
- 00:14:58.257 --> 00:15:00.560
- It was after the geneva bible had been out for a while,
- 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:02.495
- And king
- 00:15:02.495 --> 00:15:03.196
- James did not like some of
- 00:15:03.196 --> 00:15:04.597
- What geneva had, because there was commentaries
- 00:15:04.597 --> 00:15:06.466
- In there from the early reformers.
- 00:15:06.466 --> 00:15:07.834
- And some of the reformers
- 00:15:07.834 --> 00:15:08.634
- Were pointing out
- 00:15:08.634 --> 00:15:09.469
- That some of what the king was doing
- 00:15:09.469 --> 00:15:10.303
- Is not what the bible actually taught.
- 00:15:10.303 --> 00:15:11.838
- So when king james
- 00:15:11.838 --> 00:15:13.006
- Came out with his bible, he also passed a law in england
- 00:15:13.006 --> 00:15:15.775
- That it was illegal.
- 00:15:15.775 --> 00:15:16.676
- The bibles in the english language,
- 00:15:16.676 --> 00:15:18.911
- Unless you had an official anglican printing license,
- 00:15:18.911 --> 00:15:21.180
- And he only gave those authorized printing licenses.
- 00:15:21.180 --> 00:15:23.483
- The people that printed king james bibles.
- 00:15:23.483 --> 00:15:25.018
- So he was trying to control the bible market.
- 00:15:25.018 --> 00:15:27.320
- Well, we were not allowed to print
- 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:28.621
- Any bibles in english in america,
- 00:15:28.621 --> 00:15:30.156
- Because we never had any
- 00:15:30.156 --> 00:15:31.457
- Printing licenses that we were allowed to do that.
- 00:15:31.457 --> 00:15:33.292
- So we had to import all our bibles from england.
- 00:15:33.292 --> 00:15:35.128
- Well, as you can imagine, bibles were very important
- 00:15:35.128 --> 00:15:38.798
- In early america, and they were being utilized in school.
- 00:15:38.798 --> 00:15:40.933
- Kids were using to learn to read.
- 00:15:40.933 --> 00:15:42.535
- Because of the revolution, there was a bible shortage.
- 00:15:42.535 --> 00:15:44.837
- Well, there was a guy who was the
- 00:15:44.837 --> 00:15:46.005
- Official printer for congress. his name was robert aiken.
- 00:15:46.005 --> 00:15:48.474
- And anytime they were doing a document,
- 00:15:48.474 --> 00:15:50.243
- A proclamation, he'd printed it for him.
- 00:15:50.243 --> 00:15:52.111
- And in 1781, he went to him, said, okay,
- 00:15:52.111 --> 00:15:53.780
- Guys, we've had a bible shortage for a while.
- 00:15:53.780 --> 00:15:56.516
- Also worth noting, the records of congress in 1777 said,
- 00:15:56.516 --> 00:15:59.652
- There was a petition to import
- 00:16:00.253 --> 00:16:01.487
- 20,000 bibles from holland or some other friendly nation
- 00:16:01.487 --> 00:16:04.157
- Because there was a bible shortage.
- 00:16:04.157 --> 00:16:05.425
- Congress approved it because of circumstances.
- 00:16:05.425 --> 00:16:07.894
- They were not able to import those,
- 00:16:07.894 --> 00:16:09.262
- But they already knew there's a bible shortage.
- 00:16:09.262 --> 00:16:10.830
- They've already proved to have more bibles.
- 00:16:10.830 --> 00:16:12.532
- He goes to them and says, okay, under the king.
- 00:16:12.532 --> 00:16:15.134
- We've never been allowed
- 00:16:15.134 --> 00:16:16.069
- To print bibles in english in america, but
- 00:16:16.069 --> 00:16:19.939
- I've been working on something and i want to know if it's okay.
- 00:16:19.939 --> 00:16:25.111
- I would like to print a bible in english
- 00:16:25.111 --> 00:16:28.247
- And congress doing probably what congress will do today.
- 00:16:28.247 --> 00:16:31.150
- They said, well, let's just sign that to a committee
- 00:16:31.150 --> 00:16:33.553
- And they will talk about it.
- 00:16:33.553 --> 00:16:35.922
- Navigate.
- 00:16:35.922 --> 00:16:37.090
- Well, what's really cool is he actually did get approval.
- 00:16:37.090 --> 00:16:39.358
- He actually did print the very first bible
- 00:16:39.358 --> 00:16:41.761
- In english in america, it was known as the aiken bible.
- 00:16:41.761 --> 00:16:44.897
- And actually part of the reason was because his name was on it.
- 00:16:44.897 --> 00:16:47.066
- It also was known as the bible of the revolution.
- 00:16:47.066 --> 00:16:49.535
- But what's really
- 00:16:49.535 --> 00:16:50.203
- Remarkable about this bible
- 00:16:50.203 --> 00:16:51.237
- As well is in the front page of this bible.
- 00:16:51.237 --> 00:16:54.073
- The very first thing you see is a report from the committee
- 00:16:54.073 --> 00:16:57.076
- Telling the story,
- 00:16:57.076 --> 00:16:58.111
- Where they said that we brought in these two
- 00:16:58.111 --> 00:17:00.046
- Theologians, two pastors, because we wanted
- 00:17:00.046 --> 00:17:01.848
- To make sure it's going to be a good translation.
- 00:17:01.848 --> 00:17:03.883
- And so these pastors, new greek and hebrew and latin,
- 00:17:03.883 --> 00:17:06.619
- And they navigated it, they reported by committee.
- 00:17:06.619 --> 00:17:08.988
- It's really good.
- 00:17:08.988 --> 00:17:09.989
- The committee goes back and forth to congress
- 00:17:09.989 --> 00:17:11.290
- That it's really good.
- 00:17:11.290 --> 00:17:12.458
- That's all part of this report in the front of the bible.
- 00:17:12.458 --> 00:17:14.827
- But then what's equally interesting is right
- 00:17:14.827 --> 00:17:17.663
- Below it, congress actually has something to say.
- 00:17:17.663 --> 00:17:20.666
- The united states and congress assembled
- 00:17:20.666 --> 00:17:22.535
- Recommend this edition of the bible
- 00:17:22.535 --> 00:17:24.437
- To the inhabitants of the united states.
- 00:17:24.437 --> 00:17:26.873
- The first bible printed in english in america
- 00:17:27.807 --> 00:17:30.409
- Was printed with the approval, the authorization of congress,
- 00:17:30.409 --> 00:17:33.613
- And then the endorsement of congress.
- 00:17:33.613 --> 00:17:36.949
- Now, most people today have never heard of this,
- 00:17:36.949 --> 00:17:39.852
- But this is very well documented.
- 00:17:39.852 --> 00:17:41.654
- And by the way, let me go further,
- 00:17:41.654 --> 00:17:42.855
- Because when robert aiken actually goes to congress,
- 00:17:42.855 --> 00:17:44.991
- He has to submit a petition, handwritten petition,
- 00:17:44.991 --> 00:17:46.959
- He submits it so they can have it to review and analyze.
- 00:17:46.959 --> 00:17:49.862
- In this handwritten petition, he explained all the things
- 00:17:49.862 --> 00:17:52.832
- We could do with the bible.
- 00:17:52.832 --> 00:17:54.066
- And one of the things he said,
- 00:17:54.066 --> 00:17:55.134
- If we could actually have bibles now in america,
- 00:17:55.134 --> 00:17:57.670
- This bible could be the solution to the lack of bibles
- 00:17:57.670 --> 00:18:00.439
- And education that we're dealing with right now.
- 00:18:00.439 --> 00:18:02.341
- In part of his handwritten record,
- 00:18:02.341 --> 00:18:03.543
- He said this bible would be, quote,
- 00:18:03.543 --> 00:18:05.044
- A neat edition of the holy scrip
- 00:18:05.044 --> 00:18:15.004
- A neat edition of the holy scrip
- 00:18:15.004 --> 00:18:18.758
- But where i want to
- 00:18:19.225 --> 00:18:20.226
- Close is recognizing what was the foundation.
- 00:18:20.226 --> 00:18:23.229
- The foundation
- 00:18:23.229 --> 00:18:24.063
- That has been eroded intentionally
- 00:18:24.063 --> 00:18:26.432
- Is something that can be restored.
- 00:18:26.432 --> 00:18:27.733
- But here's how it gets restored.
- 00:18:27.733 --> 00:18:29.535
- It gets restored when christians go back
- 00:18:29.535 --> 00:18:32.305
- And say, okay, the foundation was the word of god.
- 00:18:32.305 --> 00:18:35.341
- And what is lacking today is christians
- 00:18:35.341 --> 00:18:37.777
- That know the bible and do what it says.
- 00:18:37.777 --> 00:18:40.112
- This is the biggest thing missing in our culture.
- 00:18:40.112 --> 00:18:42.248
- And one of the things our name, wallbuilders,
- 00:18:42.248 --> 00:18:44.850
- Comes from the bible story of nehemiah.
- 00:18:44.850 --> 00:18:46.419
- When nehemiah goes back to rebuild the walls
- 00:18:46.419 --> 00:18:48.020
- Of jerusalem,
- 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:48.821
- Nehemiah 217 with his challenge
- 00:18:48.821 --> 00:18:50.623
- To the people, where he said, come, let us rebuild, that
- 00:18:50.623 --> 00:18:52.525
- We will no longer be a disgrace.
- 00:18:52.525 --> 00:18:54.860
- There are a lot of very disgrace
- 00:18:54.860 --> 00:18:58.331
- That need to be resolved,
- 00:18:58.898 --> 00:19:01.734
- But there's never been an opportunity
- 00:19:01.734 --> 00:19:03.636
- To go back and rebuild than where we are today
- 00:19:03.636 --> 00:19:06.772
- Because of the conditions that god has allowed us to be in.
- 00:19:06.772 --> 00:19:09.842
- Having a supreme court that's been favorable
- 00:19:09.842 --> 00:19:11.577
- For religious liberty, having a president
- 00:19:11.577 --> 00:19:13.312
- Who's actually promoting some of these ideas,
- 00:19:13.312 --> 00:19:14.947
- We've never had better opportunities than right now.
- 00:19:14.947 --> 00:19:17.516
- And what our nation needs are christians.
- 00:19:17.516 --> 00:19:19.719
- Number one, who know the word of god.
- 00:19:19.719 --> 00:19:21.220
- Number two, who do what it says.
- 00:19:21.220 --> 00:19:22.388
- And number three,
- 00:19:22.388 --> 00:19:23.422
- Who help disciple the world to know
- 00:19:23.422 --> 00:19:25.558
- The truth of the principles of the word of god.
- 00:19:25.558 --> 00:19:27.727
- I want to encourage you.
- 00:19:27.727 --> 00:19:28.794
- Let's work to rebuild this foundation,
- 00:19:28.794 --> 00:19:31.097
- Just like the challenge really admire.
- 00:19:31.097 --> 00:19:32.565
- I want to invite you to come let us rebuild
- 00:19:32.565 --> 00:19:34.533
- That we will no longer be a disgrace.
- 00:19:34.533 --> 00:19:36.702
- God bless you guys. pastor.
- 00:19:36.702 --> 00:19:41.707
- The. we are told repeatedly.
- 00:19:42.308 --> 00:19:44.844
- As a part of public education and higher
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- Education and cultural formation
- 00:19:46.979 --> 00:19:50.383
- That people groups have a right to their heritage.
- 00:19:50.383 --> 00:19:54.954
- Right?
- 00:19:55.154 --> 00:19:56.322
- We're told that indigenous people groups, their heritage,
- 00:19:56.322 --> 00:19:58.357
- However different it may be from yours
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- That it should be celebrated, that it would be immoral
- 00:20:00.860 --> 00:20:04.130
- To separate them from their heritage.
- 00:20:04.130 --> 00:20:05.765
- Right.
- 00:20:05.765 --> 00:20:07.800
- Well, how is it
- 00:20:07.800 --> 00:20:09.068
- We have allowed our heritage
- 00:20:09.068 --> 00:20:12.405
- To be stripped out of educating our children?
- 00:20:12.405 --> 00:20:16.442
- And why is it we have been silent while that has happened?
- 00:20:16.442 --> 00:20:20.313
- How can it be that our christian schools
- 00:20:20.313 --> 00:20:23.783
- Teach diverse worldviews?
- 00:20:24.350 --> 00:20:27.787
- What has happened to us?
- 00:20:27.787 --> 00:20:30.656
- So i'm grateful.
- 00:20:30.656 --> 00:20:31.691
- I believe when god,
- 00:20:31.691 --> 00:20:34.160
- Awakens us, it's because he intends us
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- To give an opportunity
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- To walk into a different future.
- 00:20:39.332 --> 00:20:42.368
- We haven't
- 00:20:42.668 --> 00:20:43.536
- Been called to fly planes into iran.
- 00:20:43.536 --> 00:20:46.205
- We just get to go and say, take this money
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- Out of our libraries.
- 00:20:48.074 --> 00:20:48.074