Observations©

Donald S. Conkey

Date   - June 21, 2007  - # 925 – The week America’s Freedom began. (814)

How many of us realize, especially for those of us who watch daily the struggles for liberty going on worldwide, that 231 years ago this week Thomas Jefferson was immersed in writing the Declaration of Independence – the document that, when adopted on July 4, 1776, would eventually lead to a new form of government, a “People’s Law” form of government that would be centered between the “Ruler’s Law” (tyranny) and “No Law” (anarchy) existing forms of governments.

            Most Americans are usually so caught up in preparing for their long weekend holiday they give little or no thought to how Jefferson’s words have affected what they are able to do on this anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence.

            Neither will many remember that what Jefferson was assigned to do was almost an afterthought. The primary objective of the founders then was to find a way to appease King George III and to get him to recognize their rights as British subjects.  The last thing most of them wanted to do was to start the Revolutionary War.

But the king refused their petitions, almost as if he had ‘hardened his heart’ against the Colonists, much as the Pharaoh of Egypt ‘had hardened his heart’ (Greek edition of Exodus 10:1) against Moses when he pleaded with the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go anciently.

Few associate America’s liberties today with these two historical incidents and fewer still acknowledge the hand of God in the restoration of freedom into a world literally ruled by tyrants. Both the Pharaoh and King George III were hardcore tyrants. Abject poverty and slavery was the accepted norm for the common people worldwide. In both events it was the common people’s appeals in their God that helped break their bonds of poverty and slavery.

The Israelites prayed to their God Jehovah for deliverance. Jehovah responded by sending Moses to lead His covenant people out of slavery and the harsh tyrannical rule of the Pharaohs.

Moses, with Jethro’s help, restored the republican form of government (Exodus 18) previously used by the people of ancient Salem – a righteous government. The Israelites used this form of government until Israel self-destructed via corruption. They then asked the Lord to give them a king “like other nations.” After three generations of kingly government that soon became tyrannical ten of the twelve tribes were captured – then dispersed. A few centuries later the two remaining tribes were destroyed and disbursed worldwide. Serious biblical students now believe the United Nation’s ‘restoration’ of Israel in 1948 was biblical prophecy fulfilled.

These students also believe the hand of God worked on England’s King Alfred’s Anglo-Saxons government that led to the development of England’s Common Law, laws patterned after Israelite republicanism. The Anglo-Saxons were strong examples to the Founders and provided encouragement to them as they struggled to establish their new unique form of government.

Several similarities connect the Colonists to the Israelites. Both were serious students of God’s laws – the Israelites were required to study the revealed Laws of God regularly while the Founders studied God’s laws recorded by Moses in the Bible. Both had a common linage and spoke a common language, and there were approximately three million people in each group – small enough to be culturally connected but large enough to function as an independent nation.

Jefferson spent sixteen days writing the first two paragraphs of this document, the 341 foundational words out of which rose the liberties and freedoms all Americans enjoy today. These words should be required memorization for every America student. And America’s schools, instead of ignoring these two paragraphs because they establish America’s liberties on “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” should create a special class that examines closely each word and phrase, their application to America’s freedom today, and the meaning the Founding Fathers had for “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.”

I am convinced that the Spirit of God rested upon Thomas Jefferson as he penned these 341 foundational words upon which America’s freedoms are founded. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence could never be approved in today’s contentious Congress, nor in a nation now bend on removing “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” from its very fabric. And, as history has recorded, those nations who remove God from their society often pay the heavy price of self-destruction for allowing those bent on destroying the foundational fabric of America to take over.

Every freedom loving American should read the Declaration of Independence before July 4 – then resolve to become more involved in helping America return to that source of strength the Founders relied upon when they voted to separate themselves from England 231 years ago next week – God.

Also read carefully its fourth paragraph – and their reference to “the Supreme Judge of the World” and how they called for “the protection of divine Providence.” Their words are clear.