A Christian Constitution?

Signing The Constitution

Are Christians free to influence legislation that is in keeping with the moral principles of Christianity? Are Christian parents duty bound to see to it that their children are educated in light of Christian principles and morality? What would the founders of our nation think of the godless state school systems that operates in our country? Bob Vincent answers these questions and more below:

Until well into my life-time, the overwhelming majority of Americans believed that the United States was a Christian nation. In believing that, they did not desire the persecution of other religions, nor did they want to see people forced to become Christians, nor did they believe that one Christian denomination should be favored at the expense of others. They rejected the concept of one Christian denomination functioning as an established national Church, as the Churches of England and Scotland still do today in Great Britain.

But Americans overwhelmingly believed that Christian ideas and principles should receive favorable treatment and that its understanding of Moral Law should undergird the laws of the United States and the individual states. When other people’s religious practices came into conflict with Moral Law, Moral Law, not the practices of other religions, was always supreme. People were free to believe as they saw fit, but they could not practice their beliefs when those practices ran contrary to morality; they had to live by the Christian based laws of the United States.

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Charles Spurgeon On The Wasted Sermon

Charles H. Spurgeon

Quoting Charles Spurgeon:

Reckon that every sermon is a wasted sermon which is not Christ’s word. Believe that all theology is rotten rubbish which is not the Word of the Lord. Do not be satisfied with going to a place of worship and hearing an eloquent discourse, unless the sum and substance of it is the Word of the Lord. My brothers and sisters, whether you teach children or their parents, do not think you have done any good unless you have taught the Word of the Lord. For saving purposes we must have the Lord’s Word, and nothing else.

Do Not Presume Upon God’s Grace

Huguenot Symbol

Rev. Allen M Baker is Pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He warns us below of the sin of presumption in our relationship with God:

Watch over your own heart with diligence, for from it flows the springs of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Do not presume upon God’s grace. Your decision for Christ, your emotional experience, your knowledge of God and salvation may not mean anything. ‘You believe that God is one. You do well, but the demons also believe and tremble’ (James 2:19). Well, then, how can you know that you are a true Christian? How can you be sure that you will finish the race well? A seldom discussed, but vital principle is that your assurance of salvation goes up or down with your obedience. In 1 John 3:17-22 the Apostle says, ‘If any among you has the world’s goods and sees a brother in need and closes his heart to him, then how can the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us love, not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. By this (by our love in deed and truth, by our obedience to God’s law) we will know that we are of the truth, and will assure our hearts before God in whatever our hearts condemn us, for God is greater than our hearts and he knows all things.’ On the one hand, the Christian knows he belongs to God because his sin condemns him. He knows he is guilty. Those about whom I worry are the professing Christians who never admit wrong doing, who never apologize, who are always in the right, who walk aimlessly and blindly through this life, giving no evidence of humility or meekness. John goes on to say, ‘Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.’ So, on the other hand our obedience causes our confidence, our assurance that we truly belong to God, to increase. Note also that the true believer can be displeasing to God, that he may frown upon our actions, values, and attitudes, something I hear some pastors today say is impossible.

So my dear friend, will you nightly pursue a personal inquisition of the soul, will you daily pursue a personal visitation of the Spirit, and will you regularly pursue personal holiness? Run back to Jesus in sincere repentance, claiming his blood for your forgiveness and the Spirit’s presence and sanctifying power. You will need to do this daily, many times each day, and in so doing you will finish your race well, hearing those blessed words, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’ (Matt. 25:34). (“Pursuing a Personal Inquisition of the Heart”)