America’s Thanksgiving: From Socialism to Prosperity

by Marshall Foster

As our thoughts turn to Thanksgiving this year, it is a perfect time to recapture the true spirit of America’s Pilgrim ancestors. We are in a time of great trial, in many ways reminiscent of these faithful believers. It would be wonderful to share with our families and friends this Thanksgiving this brief story of the amazing sacrifice of these brave forerunners of our freedom. As we shall see, it cost them everything to lay the foundation of the most prosperous and free nation in history. Will the strength of our character be tested like theirs was?

The story begins in the small village of Scrooby as the Separatists (later called Pilgrims) began an underground church in the basement of a livery stable. These unlikely world changers desired to live a quiet life, raise their families and worship God according to the teachings of the Bible. But their biblical faith brought them face to face with the big government tyranny of their day.

King James I, the divine right tyrant of England, claimed absolute control over every person in his realm. He tortured, killed or exiled all who disagreed with him. He broke with the laws of England, to make all laws at his whim. (This is called “king’s law” and has been the tool of tyrants to keep almost all people in the world cowering in fear before them for 5,000 years.) The king was enraged that the Separatists dared to obey God rather than the king with regard to their worship and sacredly held beliefs. King James said “I will harry them out of the land - or else do worse.”

In 1607, the small Scrooby congregation sold all their possessions and tried to escape to Holland where there was a degree of religious freedom. They hired a Dutch sea captain. But once they were aboard his ship, he stole all that they had and turned them over to the king’s soldiers in the town of Boston, England. They were searched to their “innermost garments” and paraded through the streets. Then the men were dragged off to prison for nine months (which was often a death sentence). The women and children were left penniless and homeless on the streets.

A year later, these weary families were reunited. They attempted another escape by ship. As the men were on board the ship preparing to leave, they were forced by the Dutch captain at gunpoint to set sail and leave their families behind. The king’s troops came and captured the women and children on shore. Their wives and children pleaded for mercy from the king’s men, but instead were thrown in prison for a year. They were finally released and joined their husbands and fathers in exile.

Finally, the Pilgrim church was reunited in Holland and settled in Leyden. There for eleven years they enjoyed a degree of religious freedom. Their Cambridge trained pastor, John Robinson, was one of history’s foremost cultural reformers and Bible scholars. They learned from him what no other group of believers had ever put into practice. They discovered the secrets of civil, economic and religious liberty built upon the Bible and on 700 years of English Common Law.

But the heavy hand of poverty laid hard upon these exiles. The Dutch labor unions denied the English exiles any good jobs. Many of their children were forced into heavy sweatshop labor. They were heartbroken as their children began to be influenced by the immoral culture around them.

Finally, facing possible annihilation by a Spanish invasion, and having a deep concern for their children’s future, these faithful, tough pioneers decided to immigrate to the wilderness of America. They were facing almost certain death. But they chose to stand for the truth without compromise and for the hope that they and their posterity could experience liberty under God.

As the Pilgrims set sail for America, one of their two ships began to sink. They had to return to England and only a select group of volunteers boarded the Mayflower and continued the voyage in August of 1620. Sixty six days later, facing almost constant gales, the ship arrived off the coast of Cape Cod. The November storms and the Cape kept the captain from steering south to New York, their intended destination (the place of the king’s charter).

Now without a charter, they formed their own government. On November 11, 1620, forty six men gathered in the captain’s cabin and signed the Mayflower Compact. This was a government of the people – unique in all of history. It begins “In the name of God, Amen” and placed in the hands of the people the right to create laws and constitutions under God’s direction. This document became a basis for more than eighty colonial charters and covenants that laid the foundation for America’s Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Then, by God’s divine providence, after eighteen days scouring the Cape for water, they found a little harbor and a spring fed stream. It had been cleared of the overwhelming forests because it was the former village of the Pawtuxet Indians. Sadly, they had all died in a great plague several years before the Pilgrim’s arrival.

After coming ashore in the middle of a harsh winter, over half of the Pilgrims died by March of 1621. Most of the women died while protecting their children from the elements. They buried forty six settlers in common graves to disguise their weakness. The communal farming that had been forced on them by the merchants who had funded their voyage led to two years of near starvation. In the summer of 1623, they abandoned group socialism. Governor William Bradford gave each man a plot of ground to plant crops. In this biblical enterprise system, each man worked his own land which resulted in an explosion of productivity.

But no rain fell in July and August to water the crops and they faced certain death. They then repented for having forgotten to give God the glory. They declared a day of fasting and prayer for God’s deliverance. A gentle rain came that day and lasted for three days, restoring their crops and saving their lives. Governor Bradford declared a day of thanksgiving to God for His rain and provision. This story is the heart of our national holiday, Thanksgiving.

This year, we face our own form of drought. Many Americans have forgotten that it was God who made America free and prosperous. Let’s share America’s story with everyone we can, including our representatives at all levels of authority. Let’s encourage a return to the God of our ancestors. Is it not time to remember what our Pilgrim ancestors knew and did and to begin to rebuild our nation under God – one individual, one family, one community at a time?

Used by permission.
© From the Mayflower Institute Journal, November 2009
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Leaving a Legacy of Victory

by Marshall Foster

While many of our families are together this season, we have a wonderful opportunity to remember that we hold the keys to the future within our family “dynasties.” Psalm 108 (AMP) speaks of David’s “dynasty.” Throughout the centuries, the godly strategy of defeating evil has always been a bottom-up, generational, exponential, internal to external, family plan. God’s worldwide covenant of blessing was initiated through His servant Abraham. The Lord said He would not hide His plans from Abraham because He knew that Abraham would command and teach his children.

The most powerful force in America is not our government, our economy or our military. The force that has created the freest nations in history is the peaceful and virtually unreported armies of godly families. We can take leadership over all areas of society, if we mentor our families and friends to live out the Great Commission in the culture as well as the church. Here is a story to inspire and challenge your family. Notice the power of only a few individuals from one family tree that helped create two great nations.

John Knox, a former bodyguard and defrocked priest turned reformer, returned to his native Scotland, in 1560. He had spent 15 years in prison and exile. He preached the liberating gospel with such power from the pulpit of St.Giles Cathedral that much of his nation was converted. The culture and form of government itself was transformed in a decade.

Four generations later, one of John Knox’s great granddaughters married a minister named John Witherspoon. By this time, in the 1740’s, Scotland had once again entered a time of economic turmoil, famine and persecution from its powerful overlord to the south, England. The Witherspoon/Knox family endured trials and even imprisonment, as they worked to revive the true faith in their homeland. They persevered. Elizabeth and John had ten children. Five made it out of childhood.

Right before the founding of America, John and Elizabeth were called to America so that he could become the President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton University). In the 1760’s the Colonies were being pushed toward war with England. They were on the verge of either creating the world’s first constitutional republic or falling back into the European model of divine right kings and impoverished commoners. But if the Colonists were to succeed they would need political, military and spiritual leaders that would surpass any in history.

Witherspoon, as the head of the College of New Jersey, became the teacher of those future leaders. He combined a deep faith in the Biblical Christianity of the Reformation with an understanding of how to apply that faith to every academic discipline, including nation-building. During his tenure there were 478 graduates of his college. With only three professors including himself, John was able to mentor all who came to his school using the tutorial method in six academic fields. Then he was able to preach to them each Sunday in the church on campus. Of his graduates, at least 86 became active in civil government and included: one president (James Madison), one vice-president (Aaron Burr), 10 cabinet officers, 21 senators, 39 congressmen, 12 governors, a Supreme Court justice, and one attorney general.

Nearly one-fifth of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, one-sixth of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention, and one-fifth of the first Congress under the Constitution were graduates of the College of New Jersey. It can truly be said that John Witherspoon discipled his new nation by training the leaders, just as his ancestor, John Knox, had done in Scotland 200 years before.

Along with leading a college, and being a national leader of the Presbyterian Church, John threw his efforts into the political drive for freedom. He was elected to the Continental Congress and sat on 100 different committees. As the debate over independence raged in Philadelphia, on July 2, 1776, John stood to his feet and declared, “We are ripe for independence and in danger of becoming rotten for want of it—if we delay any longer!” He was the only minister to sign the Declaration of Independence (22 others had ministerial training.) The British took their revenge out on him the next year as they ravaged his college and burned his personal and college libraries. He also lost two of his sons in the War for Independence.

John Witherspoon was an indispensable player used by God to help found this freest and most blessed of all nations. His words on a national day of prayer in 1776 still ring with the spiritual power of his relative, the fiery reformer of Scotland. “While we give praise to God, the supreme disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of, an arm of flesh [human power]…. If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts.”

John Witherspoon’s words and life speak to us from the “great cloud of witnesses.” This is our day on the stage of history. God is orchestrating world events and our lives so that “all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

I believe that around our dining tables this season are seated the “Knoxes” and “Witherspoons” of our day who will be used to disciple the nations in our time. May God give us the eyes to recognize them and the commitment to train them, while they are still in our sphere of influence!

From the Mayflower Institute Journal
© Copyright 2006
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SAINT PATRICK’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN (CHRISTIAN) CIVILIZATION

By Dr. Marshall Foster, Founder, Mayflower Institute and World History Institute

from Mayflower Institute Journal – July 2008

“Battle is Your Calling”

Across America, great frustration and anger are rising, as productive Americans feel that they are buried in hundreds of thousands of laws and tax codes that dominate their everyday lives, families, property and businesses.

Our nation not only has too many laws, but they are overly complex and often impossible to understand or comply without the help of expensive attorneys. Journalist Radley Balko documents that “the federal tax code covers over 17,000 pages and requires over 700 different forms. The IRS estimates Americans spend 5.1 billion hours annually merely preparing their taxes. The Tax Foundation estimates that those wasted hours drain some $194 billion annually from the U.S. economy….The Federal Registry which records all of the regulations the federal government imposes on businesses, now exceeds 75,000 pages. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that merely complying with these regulations – that is, paying lawyers to keep educated on them, interpret them and implement them - costs U.S. business another $500 to $600 billion per year.”

Why is this happening? America is at the tipping point between the two major conflicting law systems of people and nations: King’s or Ruler’s Law and God’s Law. America was founded upon a simple and yet profoundly effective infrastructure built upon voluntary obedience to God’s Law. The result was blessing, prosperity and personal liberty as the world had never before experienced. Taxes were low, laws were few and life and charity were focused at the family and community level.

But the past few generations have been seduced back toward the top-down Ruler’s Law which has dominated most nations of the world. This system always enslaves a people through an elaborate network of bureaucracy and ruler’s laws, eventually leaving them dependent upon government for everything. The rulers often make god-like promises and always exempt themselves from their own onerous laws and taxes.

The answer to this juggernaut of Ruler’s Law has always been the same throughout history. The story of the rise of liberty has repeated itself for two millennia. First a people find themselves in misery under the strong arm of their government. Then God raises up a small minority, sometimes one individual, who rediscovers that the only source of liberty is God and His Word. Working together with God, they then proceed to liberate millions with His truth. Be encouraged that we can restore our nation against all odds. There is no better place to start to see what can be done than to track the impact of early believers as they faced the cruelty of Rome on the one hand and the anarchy and barbarity of the pagan tribes of Europe on the other. They ultimately outlasted and defeated the Roman Empire and laid the foundations for Western Civilization. They turned the world upside down by following their Lord’s strategy of servant leadership (Mathew 20:25). They started by first living out God’s Law in their homes, businesses and church fellowships. Then they extended charity in many ways including, feeding the poor and saving abandoned babies left to die. They evangelized the unbelievers, and established God’s Law as the basis for all of their societal institutions.

When these believers arrived in England in the first century to evangelize the Celtic people, England was still a Roman colony. Over time, Rome and its Ruler’s Law crumbled and the Roman legions left England. But the Celtic believers continued to follow the laws of the Scripture to create a simple, fair legal system and societal structure. These English believers followed this Biblical infrastructure to progressively displace the pagan traditions of the Celtic clans and the heavy handed tyranny of the Roman Empire.

In the fourth century, pagan Druid pirates from Ireland destroyed a village in England of Celtic Christians, capturing a 16 year- old boy named Patrick. Patrick became a slave tending sheep for a cruel Druid chieftain in the frozen fields of Northern Ireland for six years. The boy, who was a near atheist when he was captured, cried out to God in his despair. He prayed over one hundred times a day and the same all night. He grew close to Christ in his suffering and became repulsed by the witchcraft and even human sacrifice of the Druid priests. Eventually, God provided an escape back to England where Patrick prepared for the ministry.

Three decades later, Patrick returned to evangelize the lost people of Ireland who had enslaved him. Patrick’s fearless courage and faith in Christ so impressed the king that he was given free passage to go throughout the Island. Patrick baptized over 120,000 Irish people and planted 300 churches. He evangelized all of Ireland, and in his lifetime he ended the Irish slave trade. Wherever he set up a church he left them with an old Celtic law book, Liber ex Lege Moisi (The Book of the Law of Moses), along with the books of the Gospel. The Liber begins with the Ten Commandments, and continues with selections from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. From that time forward, this book became the basis of all social organization, including family, economics, welfare, and government. The Liber is the first essential document of liberty that led Christian civilization to far surpass the Roman Empire. The decentralized, God-centered worship of the Christian Celtic peoples avoided hierarchy and gave glory to God.

What was the result of Celtic Christianity in the British Isles? The Irish, who had been barbarians controlled by Druid priests, now became Christians. Then Scottish, English and Irish believers became the founders and evangelists for the early development of the Christian world. For the first time since ancient Israel, civility, charity, monogamous marriage, successful family life, limited civil government, limitation on the power of kings, private property rights, the development of learning, including the publication and preservation of the books of antiquity – all of these became the law of the land and were accomplished with few laws.

Could God and His people rebuild nations today as He did then? Of course! In fact, He did it again and again through the centuries with Alfred the Great, William Wallace, John Knox, John Calvin, the Pilgrims, and America’s Founders and others. May we be encouraged that if God can use a former unbelieving, teenage slave to bring liberty and civilization to the barbarous Irish, He can use us to restore liberty to the most well established Christian nation in history.

Abraham Kuyper, the Christian prime minister and preacher of Holland in the 1890s, who led the revival of his nation which had been mired in skepticism and modernism, left us this challenge: “When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith.” Let’s do it.