Religious Freedom 2012

by Jerry Nordskog

John Quincy Adams, 6th president stated:

America’s glory is not dominion, but liberty.  Her march is the march of the mind.  She has a spear and a shield; but the motto upon her shield is Freedom, Independence, Peace.  This has been her Declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice.

We are Americans and are unique in that we founded the First Christian Constitutional Republic in the history of the world.

Our National Motto is “In God We Trust.”

Our Pledge of Allegiance affirms we are “One Nation under God.”

Our Declaration of Independence proclaims our inalienable God-given rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (or Private Property).

The Preamble of our Constitution states:

We The People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What makes us special among nations? We were established based upon Biblical principles and foundation of Just Laws and Liberty for all.

Our National Anthem rings out we are “the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”!

52 of our 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the Constitution were members of orthodox Christian churches, Catholic and Protestant.

The structure of our Constitution limited national government due to the fallen nature of sinful man with the Separation of Powers in a three-Branch System of Federalist Government, along with States Rights, local control, and tax-exemption for Churches.

94% of the Founders’ quotes, according to a University of Houston sampling of over 15,000 writings were directly or indirectly based upon the Bible.

During the War of Independence and Founding Era, the Bible was called the “Great Political Textbook of the Patriot.” The motto of the American Revolution was “No king but King Jesus!”

Our Founders instituted prayer at the beginning of every session of Congress. Its first act was to purchase Bibles for the federal government to distribute.  Congress initiated a chaplaincy system in both Congress and the military.

Since God created the heaven and the earth and man in His image, He established all the laws of the universe including the laws that mankind should live by: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Mt. 4:4).  God created everything and He rules.  All men and women and children are to obey our Creator.

James Madison 4th president and Father of the Constitution said this:
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.  We’ve staked the future of all our political institutions upon our capacity… to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

That’s what Saint Patrick’s Ireland attempted to do…King Alfred’s England pursued….The Magna Charta codified upon the ancient rights of Englishmen…And the Glorious Revolution in England under William & Mary influenced by the great John Locke eventually became the Common Law in Great Britain…

Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact upon arriving on our shores…The Colonists in America adopted the Common Law, establishing our civil laws and Constitution on those Biblical principles mandated by God, and summarized in The Ten Commandments.

All religious rights come from God, NOT from the State and sin-infected humans “who want do what’s right in their own eyes.” We are required by our Creator to write and obey moral and family and civil laws based upon His Word recorded in the Holy Scripture.

Founding Father Noah Webster, author of Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, educator and largely responsible for Article I Section 8 of our Constitution stated: “The religion that has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles… to this we owe our free Constitutions of Government…No truth is more evident to my mind than that Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

Freedom and Liberty come from our Creator through Jesus Christ our Lord. America’s Founders understood this when writing our founding documents.
James calls God’s law the Perfect Law of Liberty (James 1:25).  Our freedom is in Christ. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

As Dr. R.J Rushdoony (Chalcedon Foundation) affirmed: “There cannot be a separation of religion and the state, because every system of law IS a religion and a morality in action.” All law does legislate somebody’s morality, either a system of humanistic law or Biblical law must prevail.

Article VI: “This Constitution… shall be the supreme law of the land.”

Article I – Bill of Rights – “CONGRESS (federal not state) shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion… or preventing the free exercise thereof.”   ONLY Congress is granted “all legislative powers.” Thus, no other branch may make laws or decrees as the current administration of the Executive branch. Neither may the Judicial branch by liberal Judges usurping their Constitutional authority. Still, Congress may not prevent the free exercise of religion!

Do you remember how the President twisted arms in Congress to pass Obamacare (so-called healthcare)? Do you remember how Obama’s executive order bribed the last Democrat holdout—a pro-life senator—in that 2000+ pages plan?—No time could be spared to our representatives to read it.—Barack Obama promised NOT to cover, but to exclude abortions. The president bamboozled the naive senator and others into believing he would stand behind his fiat promise—one not legislated by Congress.

Here we are today to rally against that double-crossing provision forcing a people of moral conscience to fund the murdering of already-born living babies! This murder of a born child goes beyond the already heinous abortion of an unborn fetus—the murder of an unborn child before it has a chance to even start out in life, but still in the womb supposedly being nurtured by the mother for protection.  America is sick and sinful to condone over 50 million babies to be presumably-legally murdered.  It is outlandishly un-Constitutional to have any taxpayer, yet alone all of us who demand our religious freedom of conscience, to be forced to pay for brutalizing innocent infants.  As well as Murder, it is Legal Plunder—Socialism and Theft.

The Law of God says:

VI Commandment: THOU SHALT NOT MURDER.
VII Commandment: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of these United States, and principle writer of the Declaration of Independence charged: “God who gave us life gave us liberty.  And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?  That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?  Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

The Law of God says:

VII Commandment: THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY (or any sexual perversion and abomination)

Recently the liberal California Senate voted 23 yes and only 13 no on a groundbreaking bill to prohibit counselors and therapists from telling young people it is possible to change same-sex attractions  We owe thanks to my friend Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute and others for going to bat for us to fight this absurd, unbiblical SB1172 bill.  (Help defeat it in the Assembly, bombard your assemblyman with phone calls and letters.)

In 2008, 35 percent of Evangelicals and 55% of Catholics voted for Barack Obama. We had all better get our act together in 2012 and vote for Constitutional candidates who understand the free-enterprise system and Biblical principles and have the courage to stand behind them!

Daniel Webster stated 137 years ago: “I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter—from the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government—from their carelessness and negligence.”

John Hancock in a speech in Boston in 1774 said: “I urge you, by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray but that ye act.”

Pres. James A. Garfield warned in his “A Century of Congress speech on the Centennial: “Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.  If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature…If the next centennial does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”

Rev. John Witherspoon, signer of the Declaration of Independence, President of Princeton warned: “The sum of the whole is that the blessing of God is only to be looked for by those who are not wanting in the discharge of their own duty.”

John Quincy Adams often affirmed that “Duty is ours; results are God’s.”

A 2nd hero of mine (after George Washington) Patrick Henry in his famous speech charged:

If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained—we must fight!

Recite with me II Chronicles 7:14:

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and be merciful to their sin, and will heal their land.

To conclude, President Ronald Reagan, on Jan. 25, 1974, gave his famous “Shining City Upon a Hill” speech, which concluded:

We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so.  The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, ‘The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind. 

“We are indeed—and we are today—the last best hope of man on earth.”

God bless you as you stand up for Religious Freedom in America!

Suggestions for action:

• Pray, including prayers with fasting and repentance.
• Hold local and national solemn assemblies.
• Educate yourself and family on biblical principles, on history (His Story), and the Word of God.
• Study the candidates, their actions (record), and not just their words. Study their known character.
• Consider David Barton’s list of a candidate’s Four Non-Negotiables, despite some past or present character flaws:
  – Appoint originalist (original intent) judges
  – Protect unborn human life
  – Oppose the ennoblement of homosexuality
  – Publicly acknowledge God and honor Him in policy
• Study to show yourself approved unto God—II Timothy 2:14
• Talk to your neighbors, family, co-workers, discuss the issues, principles behind them, and the candidates. We must defeat Barack Obama and Obamacare this year!!!!!!!
• Host Christian history and Biblical studies in principles of Christian government.
• Trust the Lord. See the big picture. Act on the principle of incremental gains. Don’t think we must take the entire pie at once, unless you know you can win. God works small and grows as planting and watering occurs and we are faithful to be trusted (Zechariah 4:10 and Matthew 25:21,23).
• Be courageous and speak the truth in love. Don’t be a coward or lukewarm.

Some helpful Resources:

• See the WallBuilders web site, if interested, their list in chronological order numerous and clearly documented times when Pres, B.O. (1) has attacked Biblical persons or organizations, (2) shown hostility toward Biblical faith in the military, (3) open attacks on Biblical values, and (4) incidents of his preferential deference for Islam’s activities and positions, and hostility toward people of Biblical faith. Over 50 citations and there are many more that could be listed.  This is an article by David Barton three months ago entitled “America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U.S, President“.
• I recommend to you to secure a copy of “The Bible, Voters & the 2008 Election” booklet by David Barton which is 100% accurate for the 2012 election season now!  
• Also a booklet available from Traditional Values Coalition: “Government Sin & Tyranny: 99 Ways Your Government Uses Your Taxes to ATTACK Your Values.”  
• Wiley Drakes: List of “bad people” in the U.S. House of representatives suggesting Imprecatory Prayers.  
• See the Nordskog Publishing website for Voting Guide information.
• And some special election-season books (special price for Rally attendees):
  – Confrontational Politics—Sen. H.L. “Bill” Richardson
  – The Book That Made America—Dr. Jerry Newcombe
  – John Locke: Philosopher of American Liberty – Mary-Elaine Swanson
• Ronald Kirk’s Get Wisdom! Making Christian Heroes of Ordinary People, downloadable free at www.getwisdom.us.

Gerald Christian Nordskog is president and publisher of Nordskog Publishing.
Jerry has dedicated his life to the cause of Christ and His kingdom. Some of his contributions to the cause of Christian liberty include Los Angeles School District Declaration of Independence Bicentennial Chairman (’74-’76); President Ronald Reagan’s Year of the Bible Los Angeles County Chairman (’83); Chairman Southern California Constitution Education Committee Bible & Constitution Conferences (’87-2000).

© 2012 From a presentation given at the June 8, 2012 Religious Freedom Rally, Ventura, California