We missed the 2011 adoption cut-off by 10 days. The Adoption Tax Credit is not “refundable” in 2012. This means we will not get it all in one big chunk. We will have to take the credit over the next few years. This makes the finances a little tighter but it does not diminish the joy of adoption in any way!

We have seen the hand of God working in this adoption. Thank you to all our friends and family who have been praying for us. We have sensed His favor and seen several small miracles along the way.

On the plane trip from Chicago to Hong Kong Linda and I did not get seats together. In fact we each got center seats across the plane from each other. I explained the situation to the lady who had the window seat and asked if she would be willing to trade with Linda. She was not willing to sit in a center seat for the 15 hour flight. (I was somewhat dismayed but I can completely understand that.)

I had tried a few other people sitting around but with no luck. Then a young Asian lady came to take the isle seat next to me. I again explained the situation and she graciously agreed to take Linda’s center seat on the other side and let Linda have her isle seat. Linda was so happy to be able to lean her head on my shoulder! God is good! God bless that young lady!

In Hong Kong we did some sight-seeing. For lunch we stopped at a small restaurant and ended up sitting next to a man and his son who were from Michigan. We talked a little and told them our story. They finished their meal, went inside to pay, and then we said good-bye. We really did not think much about meeting them. We finished a little later and I went in to pay. The manager explained that the man had already paid for our meal. We were shocked!! That has never happened to us before.

Next we took a train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. We had never ridden a train before and did not know that the seats were assigned. Our tickets were in Chinese so we could not fully read them. We got on the car and picked a seat that seemed like a good choice for us. We wanted to face forward. That was our biggest concern.

Many others started boarding and we soon realized that seats were assigned. We studied our tickets a little more and figured out that our seats we right there in the same row just on the other side of the car. So we simply got up and moved over.

Then another guy came and sat where we were sitting. A little later an Asian family came and quite gruffly let the fellow know that he was sitting in their seat. He had to get up and move. It may seem small but we were thankful that God had lead us to the right spot on the train before we got yelled at.

It truly is a miracle that the adoption was finalized on my birthday. Only our loving God could orchestrate that! As much as I wanted it to be final in 2011, we can see God’s perfect hand in the timing. I will say it again, there is truly no better birthday present!

There is a lot of discussion about freedom of religion. The first amendment of our Constitution declares, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This last week I was struck with the fact that Jesus offers us a religion of freedom.

Sometimes we try and make our religion a list of things we can’t do, or a list of things we have to do. I find that Jesus and his followers were not too concerned with keeping a bunch of rules. They were concerned with building a relationship with God and with those close around them.

Here is an account of Jesus being asked which commandment was the greatest.

Mark 12:28b-31 (NLT)
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

Jesus took the Ten Commandments, and the hundreds of regulations in Law of Moses, and He boiled them down to two important points.

1. Love God
2. Love others

Simplicity brings freedom. Especially when it comes to law. The Law of Moses became a list of regulations that the Jewish people had to follow in order to be accepted by God. Jesus came to show us a better way. The way of being accepted by God through Faith, not though religious activity.

Romans 4:1-8 (NLT)
   Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

   When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:

   “Oh, what joy for those
      whose disobedience is forgiven,
      whose sins are put out of sight.
   Yes, what joy for those
   whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”

God is not not looking for us to follow the rules. He is looking for us to believe in Him. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” He rewards us for believing that He exists and seeking to know Him.

Jesus restores us to relationship to God without us having to do anything other than believe that He has made the way. We don’t have to be good enough to earn it. We cannot. Jesus paid the price for our freedom.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – 6:2 (NLT)
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

   As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says,

   “At just the right time, I heard you.
      On the day of salvation, I helped you.”

   Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

We are free from our past. Free from the hold of the wrong things we have done. We are free to seek a close relationship with God without fear of rejection.

This Guest Post is by Steven Shaw. Steven is happily married and a father of four. He is a graduate of Christ For The Nations Institute and is currently attending Southwestern Assemblies of God University. He recently wrote this letter for a close friend’s son who graduated High School and is leaving for college. You can see more of Steven’s writing on his blog, FromTheShawBrothers, co-authored with his brother Joel.

As a teenager we look forward to getting to the point when we can decide things for our self; things like, where we go, what time to go to bed, who to hang out with, what to buy, etc. When we finally arrive at that grand age when life’s decisions become more ours than our parents, we typically hope there are lots of options from which we can choose.

We want car options, college options, career options, stock options, healthcare options and certainly, mate options. However, options require making a choice, making a choice means making a decision, and making a decision can at times be very hard. Nevertheless, this is what we wanted – to choose for our self.

Having options really is a wonderful thing. Options enable us to judge and empower us with authority. They give us a sense of ownership and independence. It is true: having options gives us freedom, but having them can also keep us imprisoned. The difference between whether or not you will find freedom or a paralyzing set of shackles is whether or not you have the right decision-making keys.

Making Decisions Separates Men From Boys

I believe that the ability to make decisions is one quality that separates the men from the boys. At this point, I’m not referring to the skill of making GOOD decisions. I’m referring to the ability to make a decision, period – good or bad. Too many young men simply avoid making tough choices; it is like they are frozen by all the options so they simply drift along so that their decisions are made for them. This is a sad state to live in.

Too many men have missed out on getting married to a wonderful bride because while they stood in limbo, the prospect moved on. Too many men are floundering in the What-Do-I-Want-To-Be-When-I-Grow-Up Abyss because they don’t want to choose something that they may not enjoy down the road. They don’t want to feel trapped in a bad career choice, so they simply trap themselves in indecision.

Indecision Stems From Fear

I suspect that this inability to make decisions ultimately stems from fear. On the surface it sounds like “I don’t want to miss out on what is best.” Or “I don’t want to make a mistake.” But often those thoughts are symptoms of deeper fears, e.g., The Fear of the unknown, The Fear of losing interest, The Fear of being wrong, The Fear of Failure, The Fear of missing out, The Fear of regret, and so on. Rarely is indecision unrelated to a fear of some sort.

Of course, I’m not endorsing hasty, uninformed, recklessness born out of impatience. Rash decisions have their own set of fears and associated problems too. Clearly, due diligence, research, prayer and counsel are aids in good decision-making. “Sleeping on it” and weighing carefully the consequences of one’s actions are not characteristics of indecision. They are qualities of wisdom.

Wisdom Is The Key

Because the quality of life we live is determined by the decisions we make, merely being able to make a decision isn’t enough. A high-quality life comes from making good decisions; and if there is one key to good decision-making, it is wisdom.

Wisdom is the prompting to do the right thing. If Knowledge is having the map and Understanding is the ability to read the map clearly and apply the keys, then Wisdom is the skill to actually navigate from point A to point B while considering all the variables that come into play (E.g., wind direction, weather conditions, pirates and other stuff the map could never reveal.) It is this skill that is so vital to good decision-making, so vital to being a man.

Proverbs 4:7 (ESV) says, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.” The writer of Proverbs pleads for his son to take serious the pursuit of wisdom and the book of James tells us to ask for wisdom from God who gives it liberally when we seek it from Him.

My admonition to my friend as he takes off into adulthood echoes the Proverbs: seek earnestly for wisdom. Don’t take it likely; the world already has too many fools. I believe if you make your first choice to follow the voice of wisdom, then you be equipped and unafraid to make good decisions all your life.

Have you ever heard the statement, “If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it?” My brother-in-law is one of the busiest people I know. He is always running in two or three directions at the same time. But there are few people I know that have influence in as many lives as he has.

In my own life, I have often made the statement, “I would love to do that but I am too busy.” In reality, I have a lot more “free” time then most successful people I know.

I have been thinking about this a lot over the last year or so. Why is it that busy people can accomplish so much? Why do people with seemingly more time on their hands not do much at all?

Is it that I really do not have enough time? I think it has more to do with my attitude toward doing something new. Most often I have been scared to try something new because I do not want to upset my comfortable life.

There are some good reasons to not work too much. I do not want to take too much time away from my family. My wife and children are more important than making a little extra money.

Still I see that successful people are often ready to take on new projects. They don’t shy away from trying something new. I think there are a few things that help them step out in a new project:

1) Don’t Be Afraid To Start Messy

I often do not want to start something new because I think I cannot do it well. Now I see a messy start is better than no start. You know, It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all!

2) Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help

I have thought, “I can’t do that myself, so why try?” It is important to know when I need help and ask for it. Also, I need to not be afraid if it is messy when done by someone else. Something done is better than nothing done.

3) Don’t Give Up

I find it easy to want to throw in the towel when things start to get hard. I don’t like conflict and I want to run away or just give in; even if I know I am right. I would rather quit than offend someone.

Successful people keep going. When they hit a bump in the road they do not stop. Maybe they change a little, they learn how to go around that bump, but they do not stop. An old proverb says “If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.” (Proverbs 24:10 NLT).

This blog was started because I want to do more in life. I want to have a bigger impact. I want to increase the Faith of those around me. I want to increase my Finances and help others do the same. I want to teach about the ideas that formed America and increase our Freedom.

These are lofty goals. It may be a little messy along the way. I definitely need your help! I pray that I will be able to persevere and not give up.

Zig Ziglar said, “Realistically, most locked doors are in your mind.”

The video below is about Hazel McCallion, the 88 year-old mayor of Mississauga, a large, DEBT-FREE city in Ontario, Canada. She has been elected to 11 terms as mayor, holding the post for more than 30 years. This is motivates me to never give up. We can all do more!

Dr. D. James Kennedy; Sept. 16, 2005

Webster’s exciting new volume, 1776 Faith: the Christian worldview of the signers of the Declaration of Independence is one of the most intriguing books on the subject which I have seen. His in-depth examination of the signers, their faith and worldviews go a long way in enlightening the American people concerning the founding of the country. I heartily recommend it to every American and hope that it has a very wide reception.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Phil Webster and I speak at churches and civic groups about the Christian worldview of the Founding Fathers. While doing my presentations I appear in character as John Jay, the nation’s first chief justice. Mr. Jay is just the man to present the Christian worldview of the signers because he knew them personally. Hopefully, this generation will rediscover Mr. Jay’s December 23, 1776 speech in which he mentioned God and having faith in God 33 times. The members of the Continental Congress knew of his Christian faith when he was elected President of the Continental Congress. The members knew of his Christian faith when they voted him as the first Chief Justice. Many people in our current generation are unaware that he was also President of the American Bible Society. I have written a book entitled Can a Chief Justice Love God?: The Life of John Jay (Author House, January 2002).

The second book has a broader focus, that of the Christian worldview of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It is entitled 1776 Faith: The Christian Worldview of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. The second book is based on reading the 26 volumes of the “Letters of the Delegates [of the Continental Congress] 1774-1789” and the 34 volumes of “Journals of Continental Congress”. After hearing and reading so much about “all the Founders were deists and atheists,” I decided to take the Founders’ Challenge. While reading these volumes, I took notes to see if the Founders were deists, atheists or if they had a Christian worldview. My research shows me that at least 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence are guilty of a Christian worldview (possibly more).

To confront the attacks of those who say that the Constitution is godless because it does not mention God, I have written a third book, Constitutional Religion. The Christian worldview of the signers of the Constitution is shown by their pithiest Christian statements. All 50 states mention God in their state constitutions. The Northwest Ordinance, written the same year as the Constitution, stated that “religion and morality…shall forever be encouraged.” The first four presidents (Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison) promoted general tolerant Christianity.

My public presentation consists of John Jay presenting the Christian worldview with the help of Mr. Franklin’s technology with Power Point. Here are the presentations:

1. The Christian worldview of the signers of the Declaration of Independence (60 minutes)
2. The Christian worldview of the signers of the Constitution (45 minutes)
3. 7 instances of Divine Providence on our young nation. (30 minutes)
4. The influence of the Great Awakening on the Founders/ the Christian colleges of the era and the Christian music of the era (45 minutes)
5. The early state constitutions (30 minutes)
6. African American Founders (30 minutes)
7. All 50 states mention God in their state constitutions (50 minutes)
8. The first four presidents promoted general tolerant Christianity (30 minutes)

Feel free to contact me if you would like more information or would be interested in a presentation. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Your most humble and obedient servant,

Phil Webster
7316 Levin Dashiell Road
Hebron, MD 21830

Contact Phil Webster:

Visit Phil’s blog:
http://www.1776faith.blogspot.com

This week at Youth Group we did a study on the power of the words we speak. We looked at several passages in Proverbs to get the discussion started.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

Proverbs 29:11 (NIV) says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”

Proverbs 17:27-28 says, “A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.”

After we discussed these verses it was generally agreed that our words have great power – life and death – hello! We need to use care in the words we use. We discussed how it is sometimes difficult to control our words when we get angry, especially with our siblings (those in our own house).

I think it is often easier for us to use cutting words with those closest to us. We are guarded around new people and we make sure not to offend. With our loved ones, our guard is let down, which is a good and a bad thing. Good that we can be open and transparent. Bad sometimes that we do not hold back words which should not be said.

Next we looked at the following passage in James:

James 3:1-12
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.  Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.  And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong.  In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.  And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.  Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.  And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?  Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.

This made us all more concerned with the words that flow off our untamed tongues! I could sense a feeling that maybe there was no hope and we were all in trouble. What can we do if we cannot tame our tongues?

Next we turned to the following words of Jesus in Matthew:

Matthew 12:33-37
A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad. You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak. The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.

Now we were all stuck. The words we say will acquit or condemn us! Good grief! What can we do to tame the evil fire that flows from our tongues?

Thank God! He shows us the key right in this passage from Matthew. Jesus said “whatever is in your heart determines what you say.” Here is the answer for us.

To tame our tongue, we must guard our heart.

If we allow good thing into our heart, good things will come out of our mouth. If we allow bad things, … you know what will happen. We must guard our heart from evil and fill it with good things!

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

Lord God, help us to guard our hearts that the words of our mouth may bring glory to you!

Reader: Please leave a comment and share any practical ways you have to guard your heart.

Passages in the New Living Translation unless otherwise stated.

Recently we made an adjustment to our Sunday schedule. We decided to have Computer Free Sundays. For many Christians Sunday is considered the Sabbath day. As a family we have always tried to observe a day of rest but this is a radical change for me.

Linda came up with the idea soon after I started this blog. I really struggled with this because I live behind my PC. And right now I am excited obsessed about this blog. I can hardly find the time to post! I need to tweak this or that! It has taken all my will power not to turn on my computer and check my TweetDeck on Sundays.

But, you know what? This last Sunday was one of the best family days we have had in a long time. We went with Linda’s sister and her parents to a local river and floated and played around for several hours. It was a lot of fun for the kids and a relaxing for all of us.

Normally I would think about getting back home so I could check in on the online world or work on my latest post. But, since it was Computer Free Sunday, I was able to leave that behind and relax on my float on the river with my daughters and nieces and nephews.

The 4th of the Ten Commandments says:

Exodus 20:8-11(NIV)
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

I am the first to admit I do not know how God’s ways work or why they work. But I can see in the covenant around the Ten Commandments that God said we are blessed if we keep them and cursed if we do not.

We are not religious about this. The Sabbath does not have to be Saturday or Sunday. We just need to take time to rest and remember that our efforts are nothing without God’s help.

Sunday Linda got a text from her boss for an editing job she volunteers at. He was asking her to get some work to him that morning. My first reaction was, “No! It is Computer Free Sunday!”

Then she read me the rest of his text. He knew about our Sunday changes and and said, “Don’t tell Billy but the ox is in the ditch.” The “ox in the ditch” statement is a reference to Jesus’ words in Luke 14:5 where He says, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?”

I tried hard to come up with a clever reply to her boss but he stumped me with that one!

Saturday I did an extra Freedom post and scheduled it to post on Sunday while we were at the river. I have been concerned about posting every day so that my blog will stay updated and visitors will grow. Sunday I had the highest number of visitors on a single day to this blog since I started. This blew me away! God has a way of helping me see that His ways are HIGH above mine.

How do you observe the Sabbath? Let me know your thought or ideas on what it means to you.

How does one start investing? This is a common question. I have a really simple answer: One has to start giving.

Finance

To invest money, I have to spend less than I make and save the leftover amount for a long time. This means I have to give my money to a savings account, mutual fund, stock broker, etc. I lose control of my money for a time with the hope (hopefully educated hope) that when I get it back it will have grown.

Family

To invest in my family, I have to give up some of my personal time and give it to my wife and my children. The more time I give to my family the greater relationship return I get. The more quality time I spend now building relationship with my girls when they are six and three, the more chance I have of a quality return on that investment when they are older.

Faith

To invest in my faith, I have to spend time with God. Time in prayer. Time in the Bible. This produces returns of building the character of Christ into my life. I also need to invest time cultivating relationships with those who can encourage me in my faith. Faith grows as others give input into my life of what God is showing them. Faith also requires giving of time to serve others. Faith without action is dead, and dead things do not grow! openbible.org has an excellent page of Bible verses for being a good steward.

Freedom

To invest in my freedom, I need to give up my free time and Vote! I need to spend time educating myself on how to have an influence in the political arena. This education will produce a return of quality voting and quality actions. Education will also return confidence that can allow us to start taking part in politics and not be afraid of it. If we will invest the time to get ourselves and our children involved we can gain returns of increased freedom.

Function

To invest in function for me right now means investing time learning more about blogging. In general we need to spend time improving our skills whatever they may be. Time reading, taking classes and practicing returns greater and greater excellence in our productions.

So the first key to investing in anything is to give. Give your money, your time and your efforts. Also the returns are often in proportion to the amount given.

1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect

Tonight in Youth Group we read passages of 1 Peter 3. We skipped over the parts about wives and husbands. (Several comments were made about wives and husbands section. The headings are bold in most Bibles. I think they were relieved we skipped that part) We went straight into the parts about suffering for doing good.

We had the young people write down names of their friends and categorize them in order of their openness to talking about Jesus. On a white board we had the following categories from left to right:

• DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT JESUS!
• I don’t care about Jesus
• I am interested in Jesus
• I am a Christian – But don’t tell anyone!
• LET’S TELL EVERYONE ABOUT JESUS!

They each listed friends in the different categories. This led to some very lively conversation, to say the least.

When we finished the listing we discussed ways to engage our friends and move them from the left side of the board toward the right side of the board.

After some nudging and prodding, the best idea the group came up with is simply being friends with their friends so they have the opportunity to share Jesus with them. What a novel idea! This goes perfectly with verses 8 and 9 of 1 Peter 3.

1 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)
Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

In the old Doris Day movie “On Moonlight Bay”, Wesley is sitting looking out the window of the new house the family has just moved into. A neighbor boy is outside by the fence watching them move in. The father comes in and suggests that Wesley go out and meet the new boy. Wesley does not want to so the father stamps his feet and yells, “WESLEY, BE FRIENDLY!” Linda and I often quote this to each other and I think it fits nicely with our Youth Group discussion tonight.

BE FRIENDLY!

Some may wonder if the American Revolution was really sanctioned by God.  Was it anything more than just a rebellious uprising by a bunch of malcontents? I hear statements like, “the Bible does not support disobedience to the government.”  People will refer to Romans 13:1 which says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” While I can understand the argument and I can see where the thoughts come from, I feel that this idea is a misunderstanding of the roots of the American Revolution and of what the Bible teaches about governmental authority.

First let’s look at some points about the American Revolution.  A good place to start is in the Declaration of Independence.  It has a simple list of grievances that give the reasons  ”it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another.”  This list shows that England was ignoring our human rights and was in fact waging war against the colonies already.  ”In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”  The Revolutionary War was a defense of our self-evident, God given rights as humans.

One of the best defenses I have found on the Revolution is by Founding Father Francis Hopkinson – a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  Hopkinson wrote a “A Political Catechism:”

Question. What is war?
Answer. The curse of mankind; the mother of famine and pestilence; the source of complicated miseries; and the undistinguishing destroyer of the human species.

Q. How is war divided?
A. Into offensive and defensive.

Q. What is the general object of an offensive war? . . .
A. [F]or the most part, it is undertaken to gratify the ambition of a prince, who wishes to subject to his arbitrary will a people whom God created free, and to gain an uncontrolled dominion over their rights and property. . .

Q. What is defensive war?
A. It is to take up arms in opposition to the invasions of usurped power and bravely suffer present hardships and encounter present dangers, to secure the rights of humanity and the blessings of freedom to generations yet unborn.

Q. Is even defensive war justifiable in a religious view?
A. The foundation of war is laid in the wickedness of mankind . . . . God has given man wit to contrive, power to execute, and freedom of will to direct his conduct. It cannot be but that some, from a depravity of will, will abuse these privileges and exert these powers to the injury of others; and the oppressed would have no safety nor redress but by exerting the same powers in their defense and it is our duty to set a proper value upon and defend to the utmost our just rights and the blessings of life, otherwise a few miscreants [unprincipled individuals] would tyrannize over the rest of mankind, and make the passive multitude the slaves of their power. Thus it is that defensive is not only justifiable but an indispensable duty.

Q. Is it upon these principles that the people of America are resisting the arms of Great Britain, and opposing force with force?
A. Strictly so – The Americans had nothing in view but to live peaceably and dutifully. . .  And may Heaven prosper their virtuous undertaking!

Founding Father John Dickens, who was a signer the Constitution in 1787 understood that our rights do not originate with governments.  He stated,

Kings or parliaments could not give the rights essential to happiness, as you confess those invaded by the Stamp Act to be. We claim them from a higher source—from the King of Kings and Lord of all the earth. They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals. They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature. They are born with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives. John Dickinson, The Political Writings of John Dickinson (Wilmington: Bonsal and Niles, 1801), Vol. I, p. 111.

Next let’s look at some biblical examples where tyrannical governments were disobeyed.  There are numerous accounts were people disobeyed direct governmental authority.  The stories of Daniel in the lion’s den, The Three Hebrew Children, The Hebrew Midwives, and Jesus’ disciples preaching.

To me there is a clear understanding that the American revolution was a defense of our God given rights.  Governments are to be obeyed as long as they are not in contradiction to the the Law of God.  When a government steps beyond its jurisdiction we must follow the Law of God over the law of man.