November every year in America is historically a time of remembrance and Thanksgiving. What other culture in the world has a tradition like that?
To better appreciate the roots of this special season for us as a people, let’s unravel the chain of events that helps us understand the implications of what led to the divinely innovative beginning of a whole new national identity.
Nobody I know does that better than my friend Bill Federer – Listen as he describes parallels between the treacherous 16th century time of the Pilgrims and our time 400 years later.
You can watch this interview at: https://www.brighteon.com/ea893f37-bee7-427f-b229-2551e988dee2?t=368 Start at 6:08 of 1/22/2023 America Unhinged: Dr. John Diamond interview with Bill Federer
Here is a partial Outline of Bill Federer’s talk:
Kings typically killed some of their own country’s population that they didn’t like
The St Bartholemew’s Day Massacre described.
John Calvin wrestled with Romans 13. What do you do when the authorities have a mandate to kill your wife and kids?
Eph 6 .. children obey your parents… is he required to obey an ungodly parent’s demand to do something against God’s expressed will.
Martin Luther King comments on unjust laws… obey government as long as it lines up with God’s word.
If you remove a king… chaos results. Another king comes in to change things… followed by more chaos. how do you remove a king to restore order without another chaos?
The Pilgrims, following Bible concepts, began a “Covenant” form of government, where everyone follows a covenant with God and with each other. Everyone is taught the “law.” What motivates them is that they are personally accountable to God. Second, everyone is in a covenant with each other and with God.
05:35 The Pilgrims looked to ancient Israel as their model – particularly the first 400 years after Israel’s exodus from Egypt, before King Saul.
After Joshua’s time, there was no king in Israel for 400 years.
The kings of England adopted the ‘divine right of kings’ paradigm from the Biblical time of kings Saul and David and afterward.
06:35 The Calvinist puritans of New England looked to the pre-King Saul Bible period.
Kings of England were a theocracy. The king was head of the church. From 1535 onward people were required to take the “oath of supremacy” which forced all English subjects to obey the King in all matters, even of a religious or spiritual nature.
King James had several attempts on his life because of the discontent fomented by royal heavy-handedness.
Guy Faux assassination attempt.
King James was paranoid of dissenting groups whom he feared might assassinate him. This included the Pilgrims.
America’s founders came to get away from a “theocracy.”
09:36 Book of Common Prayer… The government raided those who prayed without this book being used to pray. Dissenters were officially condemned as ‘heretics’ and branded without fair trial because they dared to defy the king’s regulations of even their thoughts and prayers.
10:54 Conventical Act became The Riot Act in England because the government feared the “covenanters” could be planning a riot in their secret meetings as Christians wanting to gather in their homes to worship God.
John Bunyan was subjected to arrest and imprisonment for 12 years because of his boldness to meet privately in his home church.
Jesus clearly made following his teaching completely voluntary
Covenant churches were made of those who had no bishops and no requirement to bow to government authorized priests. They decided to not meet in church buildings but in the open fields.
17:18 The idea of having to believe the way the government believes prompted one group to buy passage from England to the Netherlands (the Pilgrims).
Federal is Latin for ‘covenant.’
The constitution is a way to prevent a president from ruling through mandates.
Thanks to Bill Federer, we can better see the powerful influence that rulers have over an oppressed people.
Do you think Jeremiah’s prophetic words speak to our generation today?
“Thus says the LORD, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for our souls…’” Jeremiah 6:16
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