The Myth of Separation—The Reality of Apostasy
By Dale V.
Nobbman
Apostasy in
America
has been increasing
at a rapid rate over
recent years—and
that is the
‘reality’ in our
nation today.
The ‘myth’ of
separation as
established by our
United States
Supreme Court over
the past five
decades has proved
to be a direct
factor in
multiplying the
amount of apostasy
we are currently
faced with in
America.
With the
above facts in mind,
let’s take a brief
look back into
American history to
see ‘why’ our
current severe case
of apostasy has
increased so
dramatically.
It’s always
been a good idea to
glance in the rear
view mirror of
history once and
awhile, not merely
to see where we’ve
been, but to be
aware of potential
dangers which can
come at our country
from all directions
as we proceed
forward into the
future.
Hindsight has
perfect vision, so
by taking a look
back into our
nation’s history it
gives the United States
the ability to
correct our current
course, turn back to
God, and once again
pray for His
Divine direction for
our nation in the
years to come,
before our country
is plagued even
further from the
negative affects of
apostasy.
Our focus in this
article is
specifically on America, and the
intent of the
article is to show
American citizens
how apostasy has
gradually eroded
away the Christian
principles our
country was founded
upon by our
‘Founding Fathers.’
The 56
signers of the
Declaration of
Independence, and
the 39 signers of
the U.S.
Constitution, were
not only a very
intelligent group of
men, but a large
percentage of them
were quite religious
and very active
churchgoers.
The signers
were members of
religious
denominations,
mostly Christian, at
a rate that was
significantly higher
than average for the
American Colonies
during the late
1700’s.
A vast
majority of the
founders embraced
Biblical principles.
Before we review
some of the
documented words and
beliefs of
America’s
‘Founding Fathers’
and the role
Christianity played
in the establishment
of our great nation,
let’s first examine
the definition of
apostasy.
Webster’s
dictionary defines
apostasy as a
“falling away from
the truth.”
Christian’s,
of course, consider
‘truth’ to mean
Biblical truth.
Another
definition of
apostasy is “the
deliberate
repudiation and
abandonment of the
faith.”
The New
Testament book of
Jude, in the Bible,
describes apostates
as being divisive,
grumblers, depraved,
and worldly-minded
‘mockers’ following
after their own
ungodly lusts.
Apostasy and
its ultimate revolt
and rejection of
God, Jesus Christ,
and Christianity by
people ‘devoid of
the Spirit’ will
continue to increase
and become more
rampant, not only in
America,
but also worldwide,
in the last days
before the Rapture
and the Tribulation
take place. The
Apostle Paul wrote
in his New Testament
biblical book of 2nd
Thessalonians that
“unless the falling
away comes first,
the day of the Lord
will not come.”
The ‘day of
the Lord’ Paul
speaks of is the
time when our Lord
Jesus Christ comes
and gathers together
Christians to Him in
the air (the
Rapture).
Paul also
says that the ‘man
of lawlessness’ (the
Anti-Christ) will
then be revealed at
the start of the
seven year
Tribulation period,
after the restrainer
(the Holy Spirit) is
taken out of the way
at the time of the
Rapture.
In other
words, widespread
apostasy is a major
‘sign of the times’
just before the
Rapture of the
Church (Christians)
by our Lord and
Savior, Jesus
Christ.
Now that we
understand the part
apostasy is playing
in both the current
course of human
events and the part
apostasy will play
in the ‘last days’,
let’s review some
early American
history and then you
can decide for
yourself as to
what degree our
nation has ‘fallen
away from the
truth’, especially
in our government
and public education
system.
Apostasy in
America
today has resulted
in
America’s
Godly heritage, and
our United States
Constitution, to be
increasingly and
purposely altered
and rejected by
corrupt apostates.
Our Founding Fathers
never intended to
prohibit religious
activities in public
places, but
unfortunately, legal
controversies
regarding this issue
led to the U.S.
Supreme Court taking
an 1802 written
statement by Thomas
Jefferson ‘out of
context’ beginning
with an important
court case in 1962
(Engel vs. Vitale)
regarding prayer in
public schools, and
then again in a 1963
court case (Abington
School District v.
Schempp) regarding
Bible reading in
public schools.
Jefferson
had made reference
to a ‘wall of
separation between
church and state’
within a letter he
had written to the
Danbury Baptists in
1802.
Jefferson
at that time was
simply trying to
reassure the
Baptists that no
one denomination
would become the
official ‘national’
denomination.
By using the
phrase ‘a wall of
separation’,
Jefferson was
actually trying to
merely impress the
Baptists by
borrowing the words
of Roger Williams,
the prominent
Baptist minister who
founded the first
Baptist church in
America in 1638.
Williams’s
statement as to a
‘wall’ was
originally
introduced by him as
a one-directional
wall intended to
‘protect the church
from the
government.’
Thomas Jefferson
clearly understood
this to be the case
when he stated in
his second inaugural
address in 1805:
“In matters
of religion I have
considered that its
free exercise is
placed by the
Constitution
independent of the
powers of the
Federal Government.”
In 1789, the same
Congress which
created the First
Amendment, approved
legislation known as
the Northwest
Ordinance, which
provided the
procedure and
requirements whereby
territories could
attain statehood in
the newly created
United States.
Article III
of that Northwest
Ordinance addressed
the importance of
religion to the
territories.
This article
stated:
“Religion,
morality, and
knowledge, being
necessary to good
government and the
happiness of
mankind, schools and
the means of
education shall
forever be
encouraged.”
Thus, the
framers of the First
Amendment felt that
schools and
educational systems
were the proper
means to encourage
‘religion, morality,
and knowledge.’
On April 30, 1802,
Congress passed the
Enabling Act for Ohio, requiring that the
territory form its
government in a
manner not repugnant
to the Northwest
Ordinance.
The Ohio
Constitution
included the same
wording found under
Article III of the
Northwest Ordinance,
and this
federally-mandated
requirement, and the
resulting Ohio
Constitution,
occurred under the
administration of
none other than
President Thomas
Jefferson.
Not only did the
Founding Fathers
hold strong beliefs
on what constituted
a good form of
government, they
also held equally
strong beliefs about
what would cause its
downfall.
They believed
that government
stability is
grounded in the
morality of its
citizens, and
citizen morality is
grounded in
religion.
When the
importance of
religion is
diminished, so is
the effectiveness of
government.
Our Founders
believed that
religion,
specifically
Christianity,
produced public
morality, and that
government could not
survive without
public morality.
Man must be
controlled by either
the internal
restraints provided
through religion or
by the threat of
force and
punishments from a
civil authority.
In a
democratic-republic
nation such as ours,
it is imperative
that religion and
morality be
maintained,
encouraged, and
promoted.
As immorality and
anti-religion
apostasy increases
in America with
each passing year,
let’s consider the
statements and
warnings of some of
our other Founding
Fathers, as well as
some of our early
day pioneers of
education in our
nation.
George Washington,
our first president,
said, “Of all the
dispositions and
habits which lead to
political
prosperity, religion
and morality are
indispensable
supports.
The mere
politician, equally
with the pious man,
ought to respect and
to cherish them.
Whatever may
be conceded to the
influence of refined
education—reason and
experience both
forbid us to expect
that national
morality can prevail
in exclusion of
religious
principle.”
Washington also said,
“True religion
affords to
government its
surest support—it is
impossible to
rightly govern the
world without God
and the Bible.”
John Adams, our
second president,
said, “We have no
government armed
with power capable
of contending with
human passions
unbridled by
morality and
religion—our
Constitution was
made only for a
moral and religious
people.
It is wholly
inadequate to the
government of any
other.”
Thomas Jefferson,
our third president,
said, “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.”
James Madison,
our fourth
president, known as
the Chief Architect
of our U.S.
Constitution, said,
“We have staked the
whole future of
American
civilization, not
upon the power of
government, far from
it.
We have
staked the future of
all of our political
institutions upon
the capacity of each
and all of us to
govern ourselves, to
control ourselves,
to sustain
ourselves, according
to the Ten
Commandments of
God.”
Samuel Adams,
the Father of the
American Revolution,
said, “A general
dissolution of
principles and
manners will more
surely overthrow the
liberties of America than the whole force of the
common enemy.”
Adams also
said, “Let divines
and philosophers,
statesmen and
patriots, unite
their endeavors to
renovate the age, by
impressing the minds
of men with the
importance of
educating their
little boys and
girls, of
inculcation
(implanting) in the
minds of youth the
fear and love of the
Deity—and in
subordination to
these great
principles, the love
of their country—in
short, of leading
them in the study
and practice of the
exalted virtues of
the Christian
system.
Neither the
wisest constitution,
nor the wisest laws
will secure the
liberty and
happiness of a
people whose manners
are universally
corrupt.”
Gouverneur Morris,
who literally wrote
the U.S.
Constitution, said,
“Religion is the
only solid basis of
good morals;
therefore education
should teach the
precepts of
religion, and the
duties of man
towards God.”
John Quincy Adams,
our sixth president,
said, “The highest
glory of the
American Revolution
was this—it
connected, in one
indissoluble bond,
the principles of
civil government
with the principles
of Christianity.”
John Jay, the
first Chief Justice
of the U.S. Supreme
Court, said,
“Providence has
given to our people
the choice of their
rulers, and it is
the duty as well as
the privilege and
interest of our
Christian nation to
select and prefer
Christians for their
rulers.”
Joseph Story, an
early U.S. Supreme
Court Justice,
appointed by James
Madison, said, “We
are not to attribute
this prohibition of
a national religious
establishment, in
the First Amendment,
to an indifference
to religion in
general, and
especially to
Christianity, which
none could hold in
more reverence than
the framers of the
Constitution.”
Story also
stated, “It yet
remains a problem to
be solved in human
affairs, whether any
free government can
be permanent, where
the public worship
of God, and the
support of religion,
constitute no part
of the policy or
duty of the state in
any assignable
shape.”
Benjamin Franklin,
one of our Founding
Fathers, said, “He
who shall introduce
into public affairs
the principles of
primitive
Christianity will
change the face of
the world.”
It was
Franklin who moved
that prayers be held
every morning before
proceeding with
business at the
Constitutional
Convention in 1787.
Patrick Henry,
famous for his
declaration “Give me
liberty, or give me
death”, also said,
“It cannot be
emphasized too
strongly or too
often that this
great nation was
founded, not by
religionists, but by
Christians: not on
religions, but on
the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
For this very
reason peoples of
other faiths have
been afforded
asylum, prosperity,
and freedom of
worship here (in the
United States).”
Noah Webster, a Founding Father and founder of the Webster
Dictionary, has been
titled ‘America’s
Schoolmaster.’
The following
is what Webster had
to say about the
relationship between
government and
Christianity.
“The religion
which has introduced
civil liberty is the
religion of Christ
and his apostles,
which enjoins
humility, piety, and
benevolence; which
acknowledges in
every person a
brother, or a
sister, and a
citizen with equal
rights.
This is
genuine
Christianity, and to
this we owe our free
constitutions of
government.”
Webster also
said, “The moral
principles and
precepts contained
in the Scriptures
ought to form the
basis of all our
civil constitutions
and laws.
All the
miseries and evils
which men suffer
from vice, crime,
ambition, injustice,
oppression, slavery,
and war, proceed
from their despising
or neglecting the
precepts contained
in the Bible.”
Webster also
understood that
Christian principles
must be inseparable
from any sound
educational system.
Webster said,
“In my view, the
Christian religion
is the most
important and one of
the first things in
which all children,
under a free
government, ought to
be instructed.
No truth is
more evident to my
mind than that the
Christian religion
must be the basis of
any government
intended to secure
the rights and
privileges of a free
people.”
Jedediah Morse,
the ‘Father of
American Geography’
said the following
about the importance
of Christianity to
education: “To the
kindly influence of
Christianity we owe
that degree of civil
freedom, and
political and social
happiness which
mankind now enjoys.
All efforts
to destroy the
foundations of our
holy religion
ultimately tend to
the subversion also
of our political
freedom and
happiness.
Whenever the
pillars of
Christianity shall
be overthrown, our
present republican
forms of
government, and all
the blessings which
flow from them, must
fall with them.”
John Witherspoon,
another Founding
Father and
educator—trained one
President, one
Vice-President,
three Supreme Court
Justices, ten
Cabinet members,
twelve Governors,
sixty Congressmen,
and others, while
serving as President
of Princeton
University.
The following
is what he had to
say about mixing
politics and
Christianity: “It is
in the man of piety
and inward
principle, that we
may expect to find
the uncorrupted
patriot, the useful
citizen, and the
invincible soldier.
God grant
that in
America
true religion and
civil liberty may be
inseparable and that
the unjust attempts
to destroy the one,
may in the issue
tend to the support
and establishment of
both.”
Witherspoon
also said, “What
follows from this?
That he is
the best friend to
American liberty,
who is most sincere
and active in
promoting true and
undefiled religion,
and who sets himself
with the greatest
firmness to bear
down profanity and
immorality of every
kind.
Whoever is an
avowed enemy of God,
I scruple (hesitate)
not to call him an
enemy to his
country.”
Alexander Hamilton,
who literally wrote
much of George
Washington’s
Farewell Address,
believed that
religion and
morality were
indispensable
supports to
political
prosperity.
Hamilton
penned these words:
“In vain would that
man claim the
tribute of
patriotism, who
should labor to
subvert these great
pillars of human
happiness (religion
and morality).”
Who that is a
sincere friend to it
can look with
indifference upon
attempts to shake
the foundation of
the fabric?”
In summary, the
phrase ‘separation
of church and state’
does not appear in
either the U.S.
Constitution, or the
Bill of Rights,
however the phrase
has been severely
misused in our
courts over the past
50 years, ever since
the 1962 case of
‘Engel vs. Vitale’
which declared
voluntary
non-denominational
prayer in schools to
be unconstitutional.
Abraham Lincoln once
stated that America was “a nation under God”—but
that is increasingly
in question today as
apostasy seems to be
increasingly
prevalent in all
three branches of
our American
government, our
American educational
system, and in a
larger percentage of
our American
citizenry with each
passing year.
For multiple
examples of apostasy
in America, and the
world—a person needs
to look no further
than to read the
daily news articles
posted on the
Rapture Ready
internet website.
American citizens
dare not ignore or
fail to heed the
warnings of our
Founding Fathers any
longer.
‘We the
People’ need to take
bold and immediate
steps to reverse
apostasy and the
practice of
‘separation of
church and state’ as
found within our
government.
If we do not
heed the warnings by
our visionary
founders—then we
face dire
consequences in our
effort to preserve
our nation much
further into the
future, a nation
with freedom and
liberties
established by
Almighty God and our
Founding Fathers
beginning in 1776.