AMERICA: HOW WE GOT HERE & HOW WE STAY HERE!-Part 1

Guy Fawke

mask as a protest.  The mask is a mask of the catholic man Guy Fawkes.  On November 4-5 in 1605 on the eve of opening the second session of James parliament the Catholic man Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellar of the parliament building guarding a pile of wood not far from 36  barrels of gun powder with which Fawkes intended to blow up the parliament House the following day and cause destruction.  King James would later say that Fawkes was trying to destroy “Not only…of my person, or my life and posterity also, but of the whole body of the State in general.” This is the mask that you are seeing around the nation and the world today.  The mask of Guy Fawkes.  Realize what that statement represents, knowingly or unknowingly it represents destruction of present

Guy Fawke Mask

authority and blowing it up, destroying it all.  After that attempt King James went through a period of time of ruler ship without consulting parliament.  In America, according to our nation’s design, described in detail in the U.S. Constitution, the people are rulers, “kings” if you would”, under God.   In his and Queen Elizabeth I’s reign, the British colonization of the Americas began which we now know were the first seeds of the United States of America.   King James even signed “The Treaty of Burwick in which the killing of his own mother was approved.    It was this treaty that secured his rise to power as King, but it was at the cost of his mother, Queen Mary I who was executed by Queen Elizabeth of England.  The executioners knelt before her and asked forgiveness.  She replied, “I forgive you with all my heart, for now, I hope, you shall make an end of all my troubles.”  Her servants, Jane Kennedy and Elizabeth Curle, and the executioners helped Mary to remove her outer garments, revealing a velvet petticoat and a pair of sleeves in crimson-brown, the liturgical color of martyrdom in the Catholic Church…”  As she disrobed she smiled and said that she “never had such grooms before … nor ever put off her clothes before such a company”.   She was blindfolded by Kennedy (her servant) with a white veil embroidered in gold, and knelt down on the cushion in front of the block, on which she positioned her head, and stretched out her arms. Her last words were, “Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit”.

Declaration of Independence

fledgling nation!  WHY?  They wrote about their 27 reasons why in The Declaration of Independence which started by them writing it to the KING OF ENGLAND who merged the Church with his kingdom and had placed himself over the Church and the Anglican Church and he told all his subjects that if they were to leave the Church which he is the head of they were committing high treason against England.  England ended up doing the same thing the Catholics did. 

They undertook a translation that became known as the Geneva Bible.  This translation dated 1560 just six years before King James was born.  As time progressed and Queen Elizabeth took the throne in 1558 they sought after a new translation which resulted in the Bishop’s Bible, which was a revision of the Great Bible and an attempt to replace the Geneva Bible.  However it failed to displace the Geneva translation as the most popular English Bible of the age, in part because the full Bible was only printed in lectern editions of an extraordinary size [BIG ONE!] and at a cost of several pounds.   Accordingly, to English lay people it was overwhelming to read the Geneva version was made available in small printed versions at a relative low cost.  The Bishops’ Bible printed over 50 editions, whereas the Geneva Bible was reprinted more than 150 times.    

The newly crowned King James convened the Hampton Court Conference in 1604 in it were representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans.  That gathering proposed a new English version of the Bible in response to the perceived problems of earlier translations as detected by the Puritan faction of the Church of England which eventually would become the “Authorized King James Version 1611 Bible” You can say what you want to and how God does it and who He uses, the Word says, Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in men’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s plans that prevail. Proverbs 21:30 – There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.  The word of God was now available in the hands of every man that they may know God for themselves and learn of his ways and expectations.  Man was free to seek God individually.  As a result of many having the word of God much persecution followed which pushed the puritans out of England and eventually to land on Plymouth Rock. 

Founding Fathers

It also pushed our Founding Fathers as they continued to experience persecution from King George ultimately leading them to sign the Declaration of Independence and declaring our independence from the King of England resulting in the American Revolution only 151 short years later after the death of King James.  Today we have a constitution that includes a bill of “civil” rights.  The very first amendment would insure the government will no longer put its nose in religion.   America, how did we get here? It got where it is today by the hand of God.   What caused it to come to pass? Oppression and tyranny.  What was the one thing that set men to walk out the freest, most powerful, most influential, most wealthiest nation in the world?  It was the Bible getting into the hands of men!  It was the word of God being understood by men! It was the beginning to follow God not men!

It was the Bible getting into the hands of men!  It was the word of God being understood by men! It was the beginning to follow God not men!  It was men understanding that God is real, God is present and God is involved in the day to day affairs of men!  It was realizing that now we know God, His Word and that all rights come from Him, we can believe Him for a nation which He is over, He blesses and speaks to the men of that nation.  This way it can be a government of and by the people because they can hear from God.  We must never forget the price those who have gone before us have paid so we can have the precious Word of God in our hands.  William Tyndale was arrested and jailed outside of Brussels for over a year.  He was later convicted of heresy and executed by strangulation and after which his body was burnt at the stake.  John Wycliffe was declared a heretic and his writings were banned.  The Council of Constance decreed Wycliffe’s works should be burned and his remains exhumed and burned and the ashes cast in the River Swift.  May we never forget the price that was paid and may it spur us to seek the God of the Bible and allow Him to speak to us through His amazing and enduring Word.