“Observations”

by: Donald S. Conkey

Date: October 30, 2001 - # 348 - National Bible Week (817)

If the foundational laws of America’s liberties (and of all law) are, as Jefferson forcefully declared in the Declaration of Independence, the “Laws of Nature” and the “Laws of God,” what then we ask, is the connection, if any, between these two separate, yet unique sets of laws and natural disasters like droughts?  

      Jefferson found his answer to this intriguing question is two separate sources: the writings of Cicero and the Bible. The answer, Jefferson found, was obedience to God’s commandments and statutes. The Bible was always the Founders source of strength and their writings clearly reveal they knew the source of their strength was “the Creator, the Supreme Judge of the world.”

      Perhaps we would do well today, as we face our own natural disaster, the drought, to emulate the Founders and turn to that same source for guidance: our bibles. And what better time to do this than during November, the month Americans identify with family and celebrate Thanksgiving, National Family Week and National Bible Week. Perhaps, as we witness the successful efforts of the archenemies of America’s freedoms to remove religion and morality as fundamental ingredients of liberty, it’s time to ponder Washington’s prophetic words from his farewell address: “Whatever may be conceded to refined education … reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.” Are his words haunting America today? Many believe they are.  

      Was Franklin speaking of our day when he penned “… only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Governing is never easy but add a drought and we begin to see tempers flair and unwise governing decisions based on personal needs rather than on community needs.

Should this current drought reach the epic levels of the 1930s dust bowl, which I lived through, we may yet see the “wrath” of God that John Steinbeck wrote about in ‘The Grapes of Wrath.” Was it ironic Steinbeck used the word ‘Wrath’ in his title, a word that describes so well the hell that that massive drought brought upon the families, communities, and states of the thirties.

As this drought grows perhaps this might be a good time to review those biblical verses that describe how God used droughts in ancient times to humble his people. Locally, we are just beginning to comprehend how a lack of water changes daily routines. It’s obvious that Georgia, Alabama and Florida were not prepared for this current drought. Water conflicts have in the past led to shooting wars. The Germanic Goths destroyed the Roman aqueducts and conquered Rome, destroying an amoral nation gone awry. Could it happen to us today? It could. But we must remember what is needed more than water restrictions is rain, torrents of rain, rain that can only be released from the heavens by “the Laws of Nature,” laws controlled by “Nature’s God.”

No one who has ever traced their family history back 300 years would want to trade places with their ancestors and live as they did, especially if it required giving up our modern-day luxuries. Their lives were difficult, but yet, as we study their lives we see something different in their lives than we see in the lives of contemporary Americans. They depended on God, not government, as we do today. Their Bible was often the only book in the house and it was their source of strength in good times and bad. They used the Bible to teach their children the ways they should walk and the work they must do. My grandfather’s one-room k-8 school began each day reciting the Lord’s Prayer – without being intimidated by the ACLU.  They, like the Founding Fathers, when times required it, prayed and fasted for deliverance as communities and were delivered as were the Israelites who prayed for deliverance from bondage.

These were America’s “Royal Generations,” those generations who created America’s unique liberties – with God’s help, just as God helped the Israelites implement and test His “perfect laws of liberty,” those laws found and used by the Founders to create America’s distinctive foundational documents.

I often wonder if Jefferson ever noticed the similarities between Ancient Israel and his America of 1776. Israel entered Egypt with 40 people and left 400 years later with three million divided into twelve tribes. Jefferson’s America began with one small boat load of people in 1620 and by 1776 had become three million organized in thirteen colonies. And Jefferson’s America was about to cross their own River Jordan, as Israel had done, and embark on a mission to restore freedom to a world enslaved by tyrants, as Israel had done.

Moses’ Deuteronomy was, I believe, Jefferson’s source of inspiration. It outlines God’s formula on how a nation becomes and then remains free and prosperous. But is America willing to pay His price today?