Update 10/29:
I'm disgusted, horrified. We need to know about the genuine Christian foundations of this country but what we get is a mixture of Christian influences with who knows what else, paganism, Romanism, even Mohammed in the frieze above the Supreme Court building, and either naivete or lying deceit in palming it all off as Christian. It wasn't until Part 3 of Dave Miller's Silencing of God that I realized I can't trust anything he says, and I don't know if he's deceived himself or fudging the information for some reason.So he points out the quote by Jefferson on Jefferson's Memorial which is all about God as Judge of nations, and says he wasn't a Deist by our standards today, which is true, and emphasizes that he believed in "the God of the Bible." Yeah, about the way Mohammed believed in the God of the Bible, by denying Christ. Jefferson was a Deist in the different meaning of that term in his time, and certainly no Christian, and why does Miller withhold that information from us? It would be enough, and important in itself, for us to recognize his Biblical allusions and especially his concept of a God who will judge the world, but to create the impression that the man was a Christian is criminal in my opinion.
I'm waiting with keen anticipation for what he's going to say about the Washington Monument, which is a pagan obelisk that completes the image of the Roman basilica that disgraces our Capitol. Let me guess, he'll mention the inscription at the top as if that transforms it into something Christian. Woopsie, 30:02 here it comes, I'm holding my breath. No, I think I'll resume breathing and wait a bit before I listen further. Time to get a sandwich anyway.
Yes as expected he does make much of the inscription at the top, Laus Deo, which a good Mason could accept. Lots of current events in newspapers were preserved in the cornerstone which he does note make no mention of God, but there is a Bible there too. But antichrists also like the Bible you know. And stones inside were donated to the project, many of which refer to God. Not Jesus Christ though. And I know maybe I'm nuts but there is a carved relief of two men shaking hands, showing unity, supposedly of "God and country" and it took me ages to see the men as all I could see was the image of an owl the two sides of which are formed by the two male figures. In fact I can't not see it without making a big effort. Of course as I say I'm probably nuts, but on the other hand any artist worth his salt knows how to create visual emphases to avoid such ambiguities. But then maybe this one just wasn't worth his salt.
Miller keeps saying it would require a lot of changing to eliminate the references to the God of the Bible in our national symbols. Really? Most of what I've seen is perfectly generic stuff that doesn't refer to Christ at all, and He's the target after all, not a generic "God" which is perfectly consistent with the Masonic order, Roman Catholicism or Islam. Give us a break you "Christian" apologists! What IS your game anyway?
Update 10/28:
Well, that's what I get for doing a post on a presentation of the Christian nature of America before I've watched it all to the end. I was happy to hear all the very Biblical sentiments in the speeches of so many American leaders, and that does seem to point to a powerfully Christian framework for the nation, but then he goes on to supposed evidences that simply are not evidences for Christianity.This whole project turns out to be very similar to what David Barton does. I'm in Part 3 of Dave Miller's "Silencing of God" right after he's started talking about the supposed Christian meaning of some of our national symbols, which I know are not Christian but Masonic. He's now moved on to the architecture which Chris Pinto has shown definitively is full of nonChristian and antiChristian imagery. It's nice to see the Ten Commandments illustrated in the Supreme Court but Moses was far from the main inspiration for the artwork of the building. He comes to the frieze at the front of the building and still tries to palm it off as mainly Christian because Moses is depicted in the center. But he can't ignore Solon and Confucius, who have nothing to do with Christianity, and doesn't mention Mohammed at all!
WHY? Why the subterfuge? What is gained by pretending the imagery is Christian when so much of it is not? I could say I'm relieved to see that some of it is, but not when it's compromised by so much else that contradicts it. I'm writing this now before seeing it through to the end, just writing as I go. He's just shown the prayer on the White House mantel that goes back to John Adams without mentioning that John Adams denied the Deity of Christ so what good is his prayer? And since the prayer is for nothing but good and wise men to inhabit the house I think we can suggest that God didn't accept it. Really he's having to reach for the occasional Christian sign now and even those that seem most clearly Christian may not be.
17:36 moving to the capitol building. IS HE AWARE THAT IT IS MODELED ON ST. PETER'S BASILICA IN ROME? Have you ever wondered about that? And now he's going to point out some portraits inside put up about 1950, and guess what, A COUPLE OF POPES wearing the tiara designating world political power! Yet he's trying to show us how Christian and specifically Protestant the nation has been from the beginning? Obviously some other influences managed to sneak in by a back door and put their paw print on the nation when nobody was looking. As I think I recall from Chris Pinto, those two Popes are associated with the Inquisition yet. Also, thanks to Chris Pinto again, I'm aware that Christopher Columbus was a Romanist. Sure he sounds Christian at times, but his objectives were to honor Popes and Catholic monarchs.
Rather than celebrate these things perhaps we should raze the buildings to the ground and start over if we want a Christian nation. I just about can't go on watching. I guess I need to eventually but I'll have to put it off. This sort of deception is very disturbing.
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Update: Been listening along to the series of videos of Dave Miller talking about the Christian heritage of America, and being impressed at the concentration of very Christian views in the many documents he's collected, but he doesn't show the other side, which unfortunately eventually eats into his credibility. As with other apologists for the Christian nature of America, like David Barton for instance, he plays down the nonChristian and even anti-Christian beliefs of some of the main Founders, which I mention below. He doesn't discuss them, but allows the Biblical references in their writings to give the impression that they were Christians although they were not. He does mention that the Colonies restricted the rights of Roman Catholics but doesn't mention that Maryland had a Romanist origin and that their motto referring to God is one of the few that doesn't emphasize the Protestant view. Another thing that jumped out at me: He does mention that the majority of the Colonies restricted the rights of Roman Catholics but doesn't mention that Maryland had a Romanist origin and that their motto referring to God is one of the few that doesn't emphasize the Protestant view.
Then in Part 3 he interprets the "all-seeing-eye" on a coin from the Revolutionary War period as God's eye, either unaware of the Masonic influences often imputed to that imagery or deciding to ignore them, I really don't know which. The Masonic influence, and in fact the Roman Catholic influence, are both in evidence in early America, in the Greco-Roman art in government buildings for instance, where there isn't a shred of Christian influence to be seen. All this I learned from Chris Pinto's documentary series on America.
Unfortunately the talk goes on treating Masonic imagery as Christian. It doesn't help those of us who deplore the loss of the Christian foundation of America to ignore the anti-Christian elements that go back to the very beginning. They represent a mindset that no doubt had a big role in undermining the nation in the first place and continues to contribute to destroying it. It's probably too late, but I'm still pursuing the hope that the Church could yet turn the tide. It isn't going to help that effort if we're ignorant of the nature of the enemy.
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Original post:
The video embedded below is of Dave Miller of Apologetics Press, quoting directly from the Bible-saturated speeches of America's first leaders. I haven't heard him discuss the actual Christian lives of the men he's quoting but it does seem necessary at some point to acknowledge that some of these men were not Christians. (Patrick Henry was, however, a genuine Christian.)
John Adams was a Unitarian, denied the Deity of Christ, Thomas Jefferson eliminated all the supernatural references from his own version of the Bible, Thomas Paine gave a very Bible-knowledgeable defense of revolutionary war but then wrote the Age of Reason which showed him not to be a Christian; George Washington kept up church-going with his wife until the pastor told him he was setting a bad example by not sharing in communion, at which point he decided not to attend church on communion Sunday any more. And another pastor of his called him a Deist. Ben Franklin heard George Whitefield preach but never accepted the message.
Yet all of them extolled the God of the Bible as the protector of the nation, and the Bible as the source of the only morality for such a nation. Despite their deviations from orthodox belief, which deny the Deity of Christ and therefore make them antichrists, they promoted Biblical religion quite sincerely.
Miller goes on quoting from Presidents and others beyond the founding generation. After hearing all this, to deny that this was once a Bible-soaked Christian nation should be impossible. If only we could get it back, because if we don't the nation is going to be destroyed.