WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:01.600 Thanks. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:03.359 It is great to be with you tonight. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.679 I'm going to do a lot with slides and visual tonight. 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:14.400 So let me say, even though this is the first day of a new year, when we go back a little bit to last year, there are a lot of anniversaries that happened. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.160 One of the anniversaries that happened last year was that America had a birthday. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.079 She was 235 years old. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:24.160 Another anniversary is King James was 200, was 400 years old last year. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.960 Now there's a lot of different Bibles that have impacted America, the Geneva, the Dewey, the Bishops, etc. 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:30.719 But King James is 400 years old. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.320 King James has had a bigger influence on America than you may realize. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:41.280 For example, when you look at the things that have happened in America, what we enjoy today, you look at even the way we speak, our language. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.439 So much of it comes out of the King James. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:54.159 Do you know that when you look at the idioms, and that's the phrases we use throughout the day, currently, right now, there are 257 idioms that we use on a regular basis that come out of the King James. 00:00:54.399 --> 00:00:58.719 Let me show you some things that are exact quotes from verses out of the King James Bible. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:00:59.759 Here's some. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.719 By the skin of your teeth, handwriting on the wall, from the cradle to the grave, a leopard can't change its spots. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:08.400 There's nothing new under the sun. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:12.480 Signs of the times, a thorn in the flesh, a fly in the ointment. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:14.400 You hear these things all the time. 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:20.239 Next time somebody uses one of these phrases, you need to stop them and say, Hey, do you know what Bible verse you just quoted? 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:24.000 Now, they won't have a clue, but you better know because they'll say, No, I don't. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:25.120 What is that Bible verse? 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:29.120 But see, this is one of the ways the Bible has shaped us today, the way we talk. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.560 Another thing is our culture. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:41.280 You look even at our fine arts, you know, part of fine arts of William Shakespeare, all the plays that he wrote 400 years ago, all these tragedies and comedies and all these plays that he wrote, we still perform them on Broadway. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:44.959 They're still used four centuries later as movies out of Hollywood. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:02:00.079 Striking thing about Shakespeare's works, I'm guarantee you the people in high schools that do Shakespeare plays on Broadway, et cetera, they have no clue that when they're reciting dialogue, that in his dialogue he has more than 2,000 Bible verses in his dialogue. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.359 Now, if you don't know the Bible, you can't understand Shakespeare plays, but we don't realize that to date. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.120 See, this is why President John Quincy Adams made a very profound statement. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:15.599 Back in 1848, he wrote a book for 10-year-old people showing them how to read through the Bible once a year for cover to cover. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:16.319 10-year-olds. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:16.879 That was a big thing. 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:18.960 Imagine President of the United States doing that? 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:19.520 He did. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:20.879 And this is what he said. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:29.280 He said, with regard to the history contained in the Bible, it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with it as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.560 In other words, back then we didn't say, Oh, you know the Bible? 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.080 How remarkable you are. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.240 We said, you don't know the Bible? 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:37.599 Oh, that's pathetic. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:39.360 What a reversal we have now today. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.280 If you know the Bible, that's something really special. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:42.879 Back then, you didn't know the Bible? 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:44.240 You ought to be ashamed of yourself. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:45.759 I mean, that's what the president said. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:48.319 See, even President Zachary Taylor understood that. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.520 He's a military hero. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:50.960 We call him old rough and ready. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:52.319 Look what President Taylor said. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:59.599 He was so much into the Bible that he said, especially should the Bible be placed in the hands of the young. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.159 It is the best school book in the world. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.159 I would that all of our people were brought up under the influence of that holy book. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.639 Now, even to suggest making the Bible a school book today, you can't do that. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:12.000 Well, that's only today. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.400 If you don't know, it was not until 1963 that we said we can't use the Bible in schools. 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:23.439 For 320 years we did, starting back in 1647 when the first public school law in America passed, so we'd have the Bible in schools. 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:29.439 We believed you couldn't have a comprehensive education if you didn't know the Bible, because how could you understand fine arts? 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:34.879 How could you understand English, English, grammar, and language, and all these other things if you didn't know the Bible? 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:46.800 Now, it was that in previous generations we understood that really the King James Bible, and again it was not the only one, but since last year was an anniversary of it, the Bible and America went together very closely. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:51.120 That's why if you take someone like President Andrew Jackson, President Jackson said this. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:55.199 He said, the Bible is the rock upon which our Republic rests. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:57.439 Now, if you make that statement today, you'll get attacked. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:00.879 No, no, no, we're a secular nation, we have a godless constitution. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.319 We didn't believe that until just in the last generation or so. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.400 I love the way Teddy Roosevelt said it. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.400 President Roosevelt, in looking at America and why we're special, this is what he said. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:20.560 He said, the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and so entwined with our civic and our social life that it would be impossible for us to figure what life would be if these teachings were removed. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.879 Now I'll guarantee you most people today have no clue what institutions he's talking about. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:28.720 Now, we used to know that the free enterprise system came out of five verses in the Bible. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.519 We knew where the public school education system came from. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:43.920 We knew where all sorts of things in the Bill of Rights, for example, even today, if you if you go to the Federal Law Library and read in Volume 30 of the Federal Practices and Procedure, you'll find that every one of the Bill of Rights had biblical verses behind them. 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:49.040 Most folks today can't name the 30 Bible verses behind the rights of freedom of conscience in the First Amendment. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:58.079 They can't name many of the Bible verses behind the right to keep and bear arms in the Second Amendment, they can't name many Bible verses behind the sanctity of the home in the Third Amendment or private property in the Fifth Amendment. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:04:58.959 We used to know all that. 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:05.199 And that's what he said, man, if you were to take the Bible out of our institutions and culture, you wouldn't even recognize this country anymore. 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:11.839 Now we've been severed from that knowledge for so long that we're not even sure the Bible had much to do with who we are, but we are a blessed nation. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:13.120 There's no question about that. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:21.360 When you look at where we are in the last year, 235 years under the same piece of paper, we have 192 nations in the world this year at the UN. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:26.319 Find another nation that's been 235 years under the same piece of paper. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.639 See, Jesus said there'd be wars and rumors of wars. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:31.120 That was that way when we left, it'll be that way till he gets back. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:33.199 That's the normal condition of mankind. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:38.000 For example, if you take France there, France has had 15 constitutions since we've had one. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:43.120 Oh boy, how would you like to live in a country that's had 15 revolutions, 15 constitutions since we've had one? 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.480 Or jump over to Poland. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:48.879 Poland has had seven constitutions just since 1917. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:56.160 Or jump over to Russia, four constitutions since 1919, or jump over to Afghanistan, five constitutions since 1923. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:58.800 See, we're so used to stability we think that's natural. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:05:59.600 It is not. 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:03.759 We're also so used to prosperity that we think our prosperity is natural, and that's not. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:10.959 We have only 4% of the world's population, yet America produces 31% of the world's GDP, our gross domestic product. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:12.959 4% produces 31%? 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:20.240 That's really kind of, I haven't heard that, but yeah, we're more productive than any other country in the world, even with all the economic problems we have. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:24.959 Matter of fact, you may know the Constitution requires that every 10 years we take a census. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:26.720 That's a constitutional requirement. 00:06:26.879 --> 00:06:27.680 You count the people. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:29.600 We did that back in 2010. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:36.959 And according to figures that have come out from the Census Bureau, and if you haven't heard, and they say that 40% of Americans now live in poverty. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:38.160 You heard that statistic? 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:39.439 40% of Americans live. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:45.600 According to the Census Bureau, if you happen to live below the poverty level in America, grab this. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:56.399 You're more likely to own a telephone, a television, you're more likely to have an air-conditioned automobile, you're more likely to eat more red meat and have more square footage of living space than the average middle class in Europe. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:58.319 Did you hear that? 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:03.360 If you're in poverty in America, you're higher than the middle class in Europe. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:08.480 That's why people in every country in the world want to come to America and live in poverty. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:12.079 If they can just be in poverty in America, they've elevated their lifestyle. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:18.399 I mean, what we call poverty in America is you've got three colored TVs rather than, or you've got two rather than three. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:20.160 You only have one car rather than two. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:21.360 You need to see the stats. 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.720 What we define as poverty is nowhere close to what the world defines as poverty. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:33.040 You see, the rest of the world, you have 1.9 billion people in the world that live in poverty defined as$1 a day income,$1 or less. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:36.079 In America, we define it as$24 a day income. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:40.879 Our standard of living is 24 times higher for poverty than anybody else in the rest of the world. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:46.639 See, we've been blessed in remarkable ways we don't even recognize, and this is what's called American exceptionalism. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:52.319 Now, if you look in textbooks today and they say, well, where did this remarkable thing come from that we have in America? 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.879 What you'll find is they generally point to political leaders. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:08.000 They say, well, the leaders responsible for this would include folks like George Washington, it'll be folks like Thomas Jefferson, of course, there's John Hancock, the president of Congress, and John Adams, and we go through all these famous names, and that's great. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.639 But that's not who they mentioned 200 years ago. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:11.920 You go back to their writing. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:20.240 For example, John Adams, 1816, 40 years after the revolution, you have a whole new generation that's come along, and they said, you know, we've enjoyed all the stuff you guys have done. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:21.279 Where'd this come from? 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:22.560 Who is behind this? 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:29.360 1816, John Adams said, Well, if you want to know who's behind all the things you enjoy, he said, right up top you have to put the Reverend Dr. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:30.240 Samuel Cooper. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:31.600 And then, of course, there's the Reverend Dr. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:32.720 Jonathan Mayhew. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.240 Don't forget the Reverend George Whitfield. 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:35.840 Oh, and there's the Reverend Charles Chauncey. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:38.080 Go through this and list all these preachers. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:46.480 We might know who Whitfield is today, but the chances we know anything about Cooper or Mayhew or even though John Adams, who was there from start to finish, says, oh, these are the guys you go to. 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:48.000 See, we don't talk about preachers today. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:49.360 We don't talk about their role. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:53.440 See, we're we're told the church is supposed to stay in that little two-foot square right behind the pulpit. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:54.480 You don't want to get out of that. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.879 So anything in history that gets us out of the pulpit, now in the real world, we just don't talk about it. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:02.960 We don't talk about le spiritual leaders whether they're white or black. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:14.320 I mean, who in the world in textbooks here is anything about Richard Allen or Absalom Jones or John Moran or Lemuel Haynes, all these black pastors who picked up guns and went to fight at the American Revolution, who had a huge impact. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:15.120 We don't hear anything. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:19.600 See, that's another thing we miss in schools today, is really good black history that we used to teach. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:21.039 I'll just give you one example. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:22.960 This man is known as Harry Hoosier. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:24.639 He was part of the first great awakening. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:30.720 Back there with George Whitfield and Bishop Asbury and Coke and Cooper and Mayhew and all these guys. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:37.840 This guy, Harry Hoosier, Benjamin Rush, signed her the declaration, heard him preach that he is the greatest orator I've ever heard in my life. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:44.639 Now, the name Harry Hoosier, probably don't recognize it today, but does the name Hoosier seem familiar to you at all? 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:50.960 I wonder how many folks who live in Indiana know they've been named after a black evangelist. 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:53.200 I'll bet not very many. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:54.799 How did that happen? 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:04.159 Well, he held revivals all across that region, and as people got converted and their life changed and everything was different, people said, Oh, he's one of those Hoosier guys. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:06.799 Well, the people who'd been converted in the revival. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:11.679 Now, you get a nickname like that, you would think you might even teach that in your schools where your nickname of your estate came from. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:13.360 No, no, it came from a black preacher. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.519 We're not going to talk about that kind of stuff. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:20.879 Now, why would John Adams have pointed to preachers and said, These are the guys responsible for what we have? 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:21.679 Pretty easy. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:28.240 If you go to the Declaration of Independence, it lists all these rights in the Declaration, 27 grievances, why we separated from Great Britain. 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:36.799 Historians have documented that every single right set forth in the Declaration of Independence had been preached from the American pulpit prior to 1763. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:45.360 What that means is the Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a listening to the sermons we've been hearing in church for the last 20 years leading up to the revolution. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:47.919 We would never imagine that today, but that's the way it was. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:55.519 And it's interesting, the guys who wrote the Declaration, these 56 signers of the Declaration, first time they ever got together is recorded in the records of Congress. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:03.279 You can read it online, you go there, and you'll see that September the 6th, 1774, they got together, they called roll, and they said, All right, tomorrow morning we're going to start. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:10.639 When they got together the next morning, the first act of the first Congress in the United States, first time these guys ever got together, they opened with prayer. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.039 But it wasn't a dinky little prayer. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:16.080 As you read the historical records, you go, wow. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:20.000 You see, the opening prayer session in Congress lasted right out a couple of hours. 00:11:20.159 --> 00:11:22.240 Now, I find that fairly remarkable. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:28.960 You know, we can't get Christians to pray for two hours in church, and we got these guys to pray for two hours in Congress, and they didn't just pray. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:36.399 John Adams said that in addition to praying that morning, he wrote his wife Abigail and he said, We studied four chapters of the Bible in Congress this morning. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:40.000 He said, God so spoke to us out of one of those chapters, so built our faith. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:43.039 We believed for the first time we could defeat the British in the coming conflict. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:47.840 He said, Abigail, you have got to see what's in Psalm 35, one of the chapters they studied that morning. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.879 He told her, He said, I must beg you to read that Psalm. 00:11:51.039 --> 00:11:53.919 He said, Read the 35th Psalm to your friends, read it to your father. 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:57.279 He wanted everybody to know what God had shown them in Psalm 35 that morning. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:58.960 Now, we haven't heard a thing about that. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:04.080 We didn't know they prayed, much less had a Bible study, much less God spoke to them out of the Bible study, but it didn't stop there. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:08.240 He went ahead and said, Abigail, he said, we've appointed a continental fast. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:15.360 He said, millions will be up on their knees at once before their great creator, imploring his forgiveness and blessings, his smiles on American Council Arms. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:20.000 He said, Can you imagine the impact of having three million Americans pray and fast? 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:22.320 It's what we had in the country back then, three million. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:32.240 Well, it's interesting that just a few weeks later, and by the way, this is the first time that America had a government called, uh Congress called day of prayer. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.559 This is one of 15 times Congress called the people to prayer during the American Revolution. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:38.639 This would happen to be the first day of prayer and fasting. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:44.480 If you look in the records of Congress about four, five, six months later, they've got a second call to prayer, but it's not for prayer and fasting. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:47.519 They say, You remember all that prayer and fasting we did back here a few months ago? 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:49.039 Look how God chanted the prayers. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.960 Let's have a day of prayer and thanksgiving. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:51.840 And that's the next one. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:53.919 The third one is, uh-oh, we've got trouble again. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:55.360 Let's go back to praying and fasting. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.919 The fourth one is, hey, let's thank God for answering the prayers. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:12:58.639 Fifteen times. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:02.720 It goes back and forth between fasting and prayer, Thanksgiving, 15 times. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.679 Do you know these guys were so into prayer? 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:13.120 By the time you get to 1815, there were 1,400 government-issued calls to prayer in America. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:18.399 By 1850, 1,400 times government officials had called us to pray. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:19.759 These guys were into prayer. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.039 No, we don't hear about that either. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:23.759 Nonetheless, you go back to this first day of prayer and fasting. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.720 It was only a few weeks later that John wrote to Abigail and he said, Abigail, you remember that day of prayer and fasting we had? 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:30.879 And he went through, he said, You're not going to believe what's happening. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:34.320 And he listed all these things that shouldn't have been happening, but they were. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:39.120 Now, how did he explain all these remarkable things that were happening after this day of prayer? 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:42.480 They had a conversation about it, and here's what he reported to Abigail. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:48.799 He said, Well, Abigail, he said, It appears to me the eternal Son of God is operating powerfully against the British nation. 00:13:49.039 --> 00:13:53.279 Now, yeah, I mean, here we are, a bunch of shopkeepers and a bunch of farmers. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:55.360 We're taking on the greatest military power in the world. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:59.039 They've got a navy, we don't, we're trying to build one, and we're whipping them. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:00.240 Shouldn't be happening. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:01.279 How do you explain that? 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:02.799 That's how he explained it. 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:04.639 And you see, the founding fathers would agree. 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:10.000 You look at George Washington, by the time you get to 1778, he's been through so many battles in the American Revolution. 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.799 He wrote a letter to one of his other generals, Thomas Nelson. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:14.720 Thomas Nelson's from Virginia. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:15.519 He's a general. 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:17.519 He also is a signer of the Declaration. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:22.879 He wrote this letter to Thomas and he said, Thomas, you and I have seen all these things that happen in battle. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:25.200 He said, It's really obvious to us what's going on. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:36.320 He said, the hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that hath not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:49.360 He said, Thomas, if you've seen what you and I have seen, you see what we see in battle, and if you don't feel an obligation to thank God for what he's done, he said, You're worse than if no, no, no, no. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:51.759 You're not worse than an infidel, you're just flat wicked. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:52.559 That's what it is. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.320 That's Washington's position. 00:14:54.559 --> 00:15:00.000 If you see all the things we've seen, and you don't feel an obligation to thank God for what he's done, you're just flat wicked. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:02.000 Well, see, it was that way throughout the revolution. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:11.679 By the time you get to the last battle of the revolution in 1781, the Battle of Yorktown, and that's where the British lay down their arms, and now officially we're no longer under the laws of the kings. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.559 We're King George III, it doesn't matter what he says anymore. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:16.720 We're a free independent nation. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.240 You know, there were several things that happened as a consequence of that. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:33.840 One of which was the fact that about 150 years earlier, the kings had passed a law that said, if you live in America, if you live in one of those English-speaking colonies over there, you're not allowed to print any Bible in the English language. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:35.679 We'll tell you what Bible to use. 00:15:35.840 --> 00:15:37.600 If the king was a Catholic, that's what we'd have. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:39.200 If he was Anglican, that's what we'd have. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:40.879 But we were not allowed to print Bibles in English. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:43.120 Now we could print them any other language, and we did. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:47.840 We printed the first Bible printed in America, 1661, by John Elliott, the Apostle to the Indians. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.080 It was printed in the Massachusetts Indian language. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.840 We printed them in Massachusetts and Cherokee and Ojibwe and Shawnee. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:03.679 We printed Bibles in French and Russian and Italian and Spanish and Latin and Greek, you name it, but we were not allowed to print a Bible in English until the Battle of Yorktown. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:11.039 Within one month of the Battle of Yorktown, the plans advanced in America to print America's first English-language Bible. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.960 It rolled off the presses 11 months later, one of the rarest books in the world. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.200 It's called The Bible of the American Revolution. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:20.960 Now, when they did this Bible, they printed 10,000 at the time. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:23.120 There's only 28 left in the world today. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:24.559 I have one of those original copies. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:26.399 Library of Congress has one, etc. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:30.000 First Bible ever printed in English in America. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:31.919 Who printed it? 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:34.159 The Congress of the United States. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:35.679 You gotta be kidding me. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:37.679 Why would the founding fathers print a Bible? 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.919 They told us it's in the records of Congress. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:41.840 It's right there in the Memorial in Congress. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:47.440 It said that this Bible is, quote, a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of our schools. 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:48.480 End quote. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:49.600 Really? 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.000 I thought the founders didn't want the Bible in schools. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:52.879 No, no, no, no. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:54.720 That's because we don't know our history anymore. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.200 We think that what the Court tells us is what our history is. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.399 Go back and read the documents. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:00.799 Matter of fact, here's the handwritten document from Congress. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:03.840 A neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of our schools. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:06.319 This Bible even has a congressional endorsement in front of it. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.000 It says, resolve the United States and Congress assembled, recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.880 The very next year, these three guys signed the peace treaty that secured American independence. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:20.559 Now, what we've got, we've we've gone through eight years of conflict and fight. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:23.599 Now we get to sign a peace treaty that says, that's it, it's over. 00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:25.359 We're officially an independent nation. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:29.599 These three guys on the left is John Jay, and the center is Ben Franklin, excuse me, is John Adams. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:31.039 On the right is Ben Franklin. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:32.079 They signed that treaty. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:39.599 And if you ever want to see that treaty, and here's the original, you can go to the State Department, Washington, D.C., on the sixth floor of the John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.240 You get to see it, and you see the signatures there on the left. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:47.359 There's David Hartley, British ambassador, and then you've got John Adams, Ben Franklin, John Jay, the three Americans. 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:49.039 And notice there's ten articles to the treaty. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:50.319 See top left there? 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.839 Look at the title of the document that secured American independence. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:54.640 See what it says? 00:17:54.799 --> 00:17:58.640 The title says, in the name of the most holy and undivided trinity. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:02.319 I could be wrong, but I think that's Christian. 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:04.240 I mean, it just kind of strikes me. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:06.799 Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:10.079 No, the Founding Fathers wouldn't want under God in the pledge. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:11.119 No, no, no, no, no. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:12.640 They wouldn't want in God we trust on that. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:13.359 Really? 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:24.000 And the title of the document that secured what they fought for for eight years starts out with the Trinitarian invocation in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Holy, most undivided Trinity. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:28.640 See, John Adams signed the first document, the declaration, John Adams signed the last document. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:31.839 He was there from start to finish, and he testifies very simply. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.119 He said the general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:42.319 Now you just can't say it any better than he said it, unless you happen to live today. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.920 And then we got tons of professors who know so much more than our founding fathers. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:47.839 I love collecting articles like this. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.200 This one, LA Times, America's unchristian beginnings. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:53.039 See what it says in the little tag there. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:57.039 It says, the founding fathers were deists who rejected the divinity of Jesus. 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:02.720 And then, of course, of course, a whole chain of newspapers out on the East Coast ran this editorial. 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.160 It says the authors of the Declaration were enemies of Christ. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.640 And then, of course, our good professors have to weigh in. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.480 Professors point out, no, no, no, the founding fathers were not Christians. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:15.519 I don't care what they said, they don't have a clue what they're talking about. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:18.079 I'm a PhD and I'm telling you, they're not Christians. 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:24.240 Isn't it amazing that we today, 200 years later, know so much more than the guys who were actually there, who actually did it, who actually saw it. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:29.759 We get a couple of letters after our name, and we think that suddenly we don't have to read history because we know what went on. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:30.720 Nonsense. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.640 But you see, a lot of people buy into this. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:38.240 What we get is the founding fathers were a collective group of atheists and agnostics and deists. 00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:46.960 I was recently at a very prominent, I speak at law schools and universities across the nation, recently at a very prominent law school, one of the top law schools in the nation. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:51.519 And I put this slide up in front of the students and I said, Who do you recognize up there? 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.759 And everybody said, Well, there's Thomas Jefferson and there's Ben Franklin. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:57.920 Name somebody else. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.039 I didn't get another name. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.240 I said, Time out. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.480 There's 56 signers up there. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:03.839 You named two. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.599 Give me more than that. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:06.880 They didn't have a clue. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:08.400 I said, okay, let me help you. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:10.319 Let me just kind of take you across the front row here. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.720 You go to the front row, that's Richard Henry Lee. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:18.160 Right beside him, you have George Clinton, right beside that is Sam Adams, the father of the American Revolution. 00:20:18.400 --> 00:20:22.640 Over here, you have Charles Carroll beside him as Robert Morris. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:24.000 Robert Morris. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:28.880 Hmm. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:36.480 In case you don't know, your pastor is a descendant of that Robert Morris. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:42.559 See, you never know how much impact one generation will have for generations to come. 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.240 I mean, way back to that Robert Morris 200 years ago, and now look at the impact still going today. 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:58.960 And by the way, in addition to being one of the 56 who signed the Declaration, he's one of only six founding fathers who signed the Declaration and the Constitution. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.319 Pretty elite group there. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:01.680 But keep going across the row. 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:02.720 That's Robert Morris. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:04.000 Beside him, you have Dr. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:05.759 Benjamin Rush beside him. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:08.640 You have Elbridge Jerry leaning on his elbow there on the front row. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:10.079 Beside him, you have Robert Treepin. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.359 And I can keep going through the other 54 names and they say, Who? 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.519 Never heard those names before. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:16.880 Isn't it interesting? 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.359 We've all been trained to recognize the two least religious founding fathers. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:23.359 We can all find Jefferson and Franklin. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:24.720 Well, what's it matter about the others? 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:26.640 They were all like Jefferson and Franklin. 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:27.920 Were they really? 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:34.720 Did you know out of the 56 signers of the Declaration, 29 of these guys held seminary or Bible school degrees? 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:38.000 Now that's not bad for a bunch of atheists to have so many Bible school degrees. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:39.920 Apparently that's what's going on back there. 00:21:40.079 --> 00:21:41.599 See, we used to know the other names. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.599 We would never put up with what we put up with today because we just don't know enough about our own history. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.640 People we used to study would include this man, the Reverend Dr. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:49.920 John Witherspoon. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.119 He's considered the best known gospel evangelist in his generation. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:54.319 Matter of fact, Dr. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:57.200 Witherspoon, this is one of the originals out of our library. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.440 This is a volume of nothing but gospel sermons. 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:01.359 This is From 1768. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:04.000 He has more than a dozen volumes of gospel sermons. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:05.039 They were bestsellers. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:07.920 America couldn't wait for the next copy of his sermons to come out. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:12.480 He's also responsible for two American editions of the Bible, including this one right here. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:15.279 This is original from 1791. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:18.000 This is America's very first family Bible. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:23.680 Signer of the Declaration, John Witherspoon, did this Bible so the families could have Bible studies together. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:24.400 It's big enough. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.720 You can all gather around and study at the same time. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.599 First family Bible came from Signer of the Declaration. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:32.720 Now, he also is a very prominent political leader. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:37.119 He signed the Declaration, served in Congress, served on a hundred committees in Congress. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.880 He's got a ton of writings. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.680 You read his writings, you find statements like this. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.799 I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there's no salvation in any other. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:47.839 Acts 4.12. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:55.519 He said, if you're not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you're not clothed with the spotless robe of his righteousness, you must forever perish. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:58.799 Again, that sounds kind of evangelical to me. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:04.160 I'm just, I'm not used to atheists talking like that, but apparently that's the way the atheist talked back in the founding era. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:07.519 Another guy we don't talk about is Dr. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:08.480 Benjamin Rush. 00:23:08.559 --> 00:23:09.759 Now, significantly, when Dr. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:12.799 Benjamin Rush died in 1813, John Adams said Dr. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:15.519 Rush was one of the three most notable founding fathers. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.720 They said you got Ben Franklin and George Washington and Benjamin Rush. 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:19.680 That was the top three. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:21.119 We've never heard of this guy before. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:21.839 We should have. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.480 He's called the father of public schools under the Constitution. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:27.039 He started five universities, three still go today. 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:28.720 He's a civil rights leader of that era. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.960 He started the first abolition society in America. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:33.119 He led the national abolition movement. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.200 He's also the greatest physician in American history. 00:23:35.279 --> 00:23:36.960 He's called the father of American medicine. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:38.799 I mean, go through all the stuff he did. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:40.240 He's a remarkable guy. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:41.519 You know what else he did? 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:44.160 He also started the Sunday school movement in America. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:23:48.799 So if you've ever been to Sunday school and had a fun time, you can think of signer of the declaration for that. 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:52.240 And by the way, he's also the man who did this work right here. 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.640 This is the constitution for the very first Bible society ever started in America. 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:58.480 Why would he start a Bible society? 00:23:58.640 --> 00:23:59.200