Whats Moving Voters? 1776 Truths Declared Self-Evident&"

3rd in a Series by Texas Author Carol Sewell Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas The very foundations of our form of government started with the Pilgrims & Puritans.  What was the model for the Pilgrims as they established their civil and religious system?  It was the Mayflower Compact the first time free & equal men voluntarily entered into a covenant to create a civil society based on the principles of self-government.   The Pilgrims model was at the basis of our Bill of Rights in protecting the church from civil government interference in worship practices.  There was a separation between the church and civil government for the protection of religious freedom.  Note that it wasnt to protect civil government from religion.  However the church itself exercised decisive moral influence over the civil government.  The Puritans took the Mayflower Compact a step further in adopting Governor John Winthrops A Model of Christian Charity" which stressed covenant love.  It stressed unity of faith with love of God and unity among each other by loving one another.  The last paragraph of this essay literally came true with the winning of the Revolutionary War.  It read

We shall find that the God of Israel is among us when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies when He shall make us a praise and glory that men of succeeding plantations shall say The Lord make it like that of New England.  For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill …"

Governor Winthrop believed that in America they would build Gods Kingdom on earth" and it would serve as an example to the world.  America has served as an example to the world of how liberty and opportunity work hand in hand creating a great atmosphere for people of any walk of life to prosper and live in peace. In the Colony of Massachusetts these covenants were carried out in family life as well as community life.  Church was at the heart of the community and on Sunday all businesses closed during church services even the Inns.  Church services were typically 3-4 hours long because there was a hunger for the Word.  Keep in mind that everyone attended these services even the children as there were no childrens classes.  The children leaned self-discipline at an early age and the family was at the center of church life.  Parents took their responsibilities very seriously.  They knew their children did not belong to them but to God.  Therefore God had merely entrusted their children to their care and they were accountable to Him in the end.  As a result they were not tempted to be a friend to their children se were strict yet loving parents. This was life in Massachusetts where they were proud of the fact that New England was a plantation of religion".  We tend to think of Puritans as being very stern and humorless but because life in the colonies was difficult they actually relied on humor to act as a healing balm for the soul.  Laughter they knew was a great stress reliever and they took every opportunity to relax and laugh with each other.  The ironic thing is that they believed in a state church and suppressed opposing viewpoints.  They seemed to have forgotten that their reason for leaving England was this same type of suppression.  As a result those with opposing viewpoints left Massachusetts and established the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island.  By 1695 there were 13 very distinct colonies with each having their own governments and Christian religions.  Rhode Island and Pennsylvania had the most religious freedom.  Pennsylvania welcomed Christian sects being persecuted in Europe and even actively recruited them. America has always welcomed those being persecuted from anywhere in the world because of our belief in individual liberty.  As a result most of the religions of the world have come to America to worship freely and take advantage of our free enterprise system.  Sadly today Christianity is the least tolerated religion in America.  Today we have many different churches and denominations to choose from as well as many diverse religions from around the world. Trust in God tends to run hot and cold with each generation and as the colonies were first established they were hot but then with the passage of the first generation hearts started cooling off until they became cold.  Trouble began brewing first in the form of an Indian war and trouble came in the form of the occult and witchcraft.  Each time the people repented and turned to God and believed they were miraculously spared.  This is also a pattern repeated in the Old Testament. The colonies were growing and thriving economically with free trade and commerce.  By 1651 and 1663 when Britain imposed the Navigation Acts that forced the Colonies to trade only with Britain the situation in the colonies was becoming one of spiritual drought even as the people prospered.  In 1734 a revival started in Rev. Jonathan Edwardss church which transformed his community and ultimately spread to other townships.  In 1737 a young British evangelist George Whitefield landed in Georgia and discovered a hunger for the Word of God.  Soon he was preaching to large crowds.  He preached more than eighteen thousand sermons up and down the east coast of America during his brief lifetime which triggered the Great Awakening.  He along with a number of faithful American preachers sparked further revival.  Soon what was happening in one colony spiritually was happening in all the colonies. This Great Awakening continued until 1770 just six years before the Declaration of Independence.  This revival unified the colonies for the first time because they were all receiving the same message of salvation.  Therefore walls that had divided them came down resulting in a developing national identity.  The colonies were all hearing the same message that all men are created equal and precious in the site of God.  In 1776 this truth was declared self-evident".  Without the Great Awakening there would have been no unity between the colonies which they had to have to fight for their freedom.  In fact many of the great movements of God have occurred prior to wars.  The second great National Awakening occurred prior to the Civil War.  We have an awesome history and it is a shame that it is no longer taught or even acknowledged by the education establishment.  Because of this it is incumbent upon us as individuals to seek to know the truth and read it for ourselves.  I hope you enjoy We the People: Know the Past Understand the Present Secure the Future. It was written to make it easy for Americans to learn the truth about our nations founding heritage. Carol Sewell is the author of We the People: Know the Past Understand the Present Secure the Future with foreword by David Barton.