Introduction:

Socialism In The Churches has been a force to deal with since the mid 1800’s. Statistically Christianity is in a decline and therefore morally the nation is following. George Washington and other Founders clearly identified that we must be a moral and virtuous people to have good governance. The downturn is apparent due to the reality of the philosophical shift that occured in the early to mid 1800’s – the churches engaged in the ‘social gospel’ – Not – the ‘extensible’ Reformation Gospel.

The influence of socialism in the churches has opened the door to tolerance which is not a Reformation Principle. The disruption of orthodoxy over the last 100 years resulted in many ideas fostering the main denominations and a number of the 40 mega-churches to not teach the ‘extensibility’ of the Gospel. With 217 modern denominations or non-denominations, what is the core theology that permeates the beliefs of individuals? Going from two predominant denominations at the beginning of the Colonies to these 217 is a significant shift as to why then even the ideas of civil governance have been thought of.

New Opportunity:

I was on Dr. Mike Spaulding’s program this past Monday evening. With that time together he has invited me to submit a podcast of the programs going forward for rebroadcast on his FM station. I will be combining the 1^st and 3^rd segments of the program to fit the thirty minute time slot that he will be arranging. The details of this will be on the home page of samueladamsreturns.net once I have the details.

Church and Politics:

“Surely no one can doubt whether the foundation of civil government is laid in Divine institution….”: With those bold words, this election day discourse demonstrated the Christian background of Early (Colonial) America. The discourse was publicly delivered in front of Governor Jonathan Belcher and the two branches of the Massachusetts legislature (the Council and House of Representatives) on May 28, 1740–the day for the election of the Massachusetts councilors. The discourse, delivered near the end of Governor Belcher’s governorship of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, was written by William Cooper (1694-1743), who was the associate pastor of the Brattle Street Church, the other pastor being Dr. Benjamin Colman (1673-1747), who had delivered the election discourse Government the Pillar of the Earth at the beginning of Jonathan Belcher’s governorship in 1730. Both sermons were written by good friends of Governor Belcher, and both represented his own public policy, also: That a good ruler is the Christian ruler. – From Reference No. 6

Our action Item

is to engage our church leadership with discussion regarding the full ‘extensibility’ of the Reformation Gospel. This includes actively engaging in culture and the proper role of Christianity in US governance.

And because you keep asking!

References:

The video of the program is at the SamuelAdamsReturns YouTube channel

The reality and FACTS are that Politics and Culture were talked about from the pulpits until the ‘Social Gospel’ and humanism infested the Church and the Bible Colleges/seminaries.

1. Protestantism in the United States – Wikipedia

2. America’s Changing Religious Landscape – Pew Research Center

3. History of American Religion:1600 to 2017 – A timeline

4. Fast Facts about American Religion – Hartford Institute for Religion Research

5. Conforming the Church to the New World Order updated in 2014

6. The Honors of Christ Demanded of the Magistrate

7. 1800’s to Early 1900’s Authors From Reformed Books Online

8. Why are Pastors Afraid to Speak about Politics? By Gary Demar

9. 2018 Should Ministers Address Politics From the Pulpit? By Gary Demar

For my grandkids and you:

I am now just over half way through reading the chapters on YouTube.

The Chaplains and Clergy of The Revolution Compiled by J. T. Headley, 1864 My reading of the Book on YouTube: The Chaplains and Clergy of The Revolution