The writer of Hebrews admonished believers in his day, “We must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.” Today, premier American historian and WallBuilders founder David Barton carries the same message. He has devoted his life to teaching truth and dispelling myths about our nation’s founding and history so that we do not drift away. We must know our history, he says, particularly its biblical founding principles, or we risk losing the hard-earned freedoms and opportunities we enjoy today.
David is a wealth of knowledge concerning American history from a biblical perspective. From our earliest days as a nation, the Body of Christ and the Bible have greatly influenced American culture. Our governing structures, laws, policies, founding documents, and even military history can be traced back to biblical sermons. “The pulpit thundered,” John Adams said of the preachers of his day. The clergy rightly understood the Bible as God’s design not just for individuals, families, and churches but also for civil government, economics, education, and every other human institution.
In today’s podcast, David shares fascinating teaching that most of us were never taught. Listen to the full episode to learn about military heroes, legislators, abolitionists, and preachers, both white and black, who spoke truth to power. Discover the truth about the Church and 501c3 status and its constitutional right to speak politically and biblically.
Our nation was once biblically-minded. Throughout our history, we knew the difference between obeying God instead of man when policies conflicted with biblical truth (Acts 5:29). Only recently has that changed. Barton attributes that in part to biblical illiteracy – though 65% of Americans today profess to be Christians, less than 9% read the Bible regularly, much less hold to a biblical worldview. Like our national ancestors, we must read the Bible, the Constitution, and other original documents for ourselves to know what they really say, stand on that truth, and share it with others. Otherwise, we fall into deception and truth, “drifts away.”
The further we separate from our Christian foundations, the more room is created for secular-minded narratives and the separating away our freedoms. This separation leads to greater disunity as a nation, and that is what we see today. David’s message to American Christians: we must renew our minds by reading God’s Word. We must learn to think God’s thoughts when it comes to how we speak into political and civil matters. The Word of God matters. Your voice matters.
