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The Miracle at Sapoá

By Kelley Vincent

Late the evening of March 23, 1988, in the tiny town of Sapoá, Nicaragua, a group of men filed into a large conference room packed with reporters from every major news organization in the world. In the light of dozens of TV video recorders and camera flashes, the world watched in astonishment as the leaders of two bitterly opposed armies stood before a table to sign an agreement ending 8 years of bloody civil war.

Christians believe that God superintends history to accomplish his purposes and respond to the prayers of His people. In a dark world where evil often appears so prevalent, it is difficult to discern God’s hand of Providence. But occasionally there is an instance of deliverance in response to prayer that is so striking and so remarkable, that we do well to take note and remember. The Peace of Sapoá was one such event.

To appreciate just how remarkable this peace accord was, it is necessary to understand the forces that pushed Nicaraguans to go to war with each other. In the 1970’s, communism was on the march in much of Latin America. The goal of the world communist movement was to bring all nations under communist control through violent revolutions.

In Nicaragua, a communist insurgent group arose who called themselves Sandinistas, named after Agusto Sandino, a nationalist revolutionary leader of the 1930’s. In 1979, they led a popular uprising which ousted the brutal and corrupt dictator Anastasio Somoza. Soon after, the Sandinista revolutionary leaders began to remodel Nicaragua according to the Cuban socialist model. Properties were confiscated, dissent squelched, and the economy began a downward spiral. The Sandinista government was strongly supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba, as well as all the Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe. The Sandinistas also began showing their support for other communist guerilla movements, sending arms to revolutionary guerillas in El Salvador.¹

Most Nicaraguans, however, did not want a communist government. Many fled the country. Others crossed the border into Honduras and joined counterrevolutionary guerilla groups called the Contras. The Contras were supported by the U.S. as part of the Reagan Administration’s fight against the perceived threat of communism in the Western Hemisphere. The Contras began crossing into Nicaragua and attacking Sandinista government positions, both military and civilian. The Contra War began. As the 80’s passed, both camps became increasingly polarized. More than 61,000 Nicaraguans died in the fighting.²

Even today, there is still controversy among Christians over the U.S. role in supporting the Contra movement. It is not my purpose here to justify either side of this debate. It is rather to show how God brought a sudden and unexpected deliverance to a nation in suffering, in response to the prayers of His people, and how that mercy was the harbinger of a much greater deliverance worldwide.

In 1987, the Nicaraguan Contra civil war was becoming bloodier, with no end in sight. Many presidents of other nations and influential people had tried to bring about peace negotiations, to no effect. From the Soviet Union, arms poured into the Sandinista government. Through universal military conscription, the combined Sandinista army and militia surpassed 300,000, making Nicaragua one of the most militarized countries of the world.³ Fighting them was a U.S.-supported guerrilla force of about 25,000 Contras, mostly peasant volunteers very dedicated to the cause of ousting the Sandinistas.⁴ Observers in Nicaragua saw no hope of peace anytime in the near future.

For example, in an interview, the Contra leader Alfonso Calero said that peace talks would likely fail, and the Contras were committed to continue fighting. “We have the equipment now,” he said, “and we have the men. We are going to start bringing the war down into the populated areas.”⁵ Meanwhile, President Ronald Reagan requested $270 million dollars in further aid to the Contras.⁶

The Sandinista leaders were, if possible, even more adamant. They issued a statement that they had repeated many times: “The people of Nicaragua and the Sandinista National Liberation Front declare that never, in any way, in any place, through any intermediary, will there be direct or indirect political dialogue with the counter-revolutionary leadership.”⁷ An end to the war looked impossible.

Six months later, these same men sat down together and negotiated a peace accord which has lasted over 25 years. How did this happen?

Though outwardly peace did not look possible, other events were unfolding quietly that were to have great significance in the months to follow. Evangelical Christians in Nicaragua were a small but fast-growing minority. Though previously plagued by divisions, for the first time in history, Nicaraguan evangelicals from every denomination and of every political stripe began meeting together to pray for their country. Beginning around 1985, pastors’ retreats were sponsored by an interdenominational evangelical relief association called CEPAD. At first the retreats attracted 200 to 300 pastors, who met for fellowship and prayer.⁸ As conditions in Nicaragua worsened, a retreat was planned at the coastal community of La Boquita. From every corner of the country, over 3000 pastors of different denominations and political persuasions united in prayer for the peace of their country.⁹

During this time, the Roman Catholic majority were not silent. Though some Catholics, including some clergy, became leaders in the Sandinista revolutionary government, most of the clergy and parishioners wanted Nicaragua to be peaceful and free, and prayed to that end. The archbishop of Nicaragua, Miguel Obando y Bravo publicly prayed “for a peace in which hatred is not the motivating force in society.”¹⁰

Then in 1987, a prayer rally was called in the capital city of Managua, just across from the major University. An unprecedented 10,000 people of every denomination came to intercede and pray for peace.¹¹ Did God answer these prayers? Let us look at the events leading to the peace accord.

Three events occurred in a short period that radically changed the political landscape. Each of these events was necessary for peace negotiations to be even possible. The minds of many leaders that were entrenched in their positions had to be changed. None of these events was considered likely or even possible by most observers.

The first event was the meeting together of the presidents of all of the neighboring countries of Central America to form a peace plan. In 1987, Oscar Arias, the newly-elected president of Costa Rica, took the lead in uniting the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, and Nicaragua to sign a plan for peace. The meeting was called Esquipulas, after the town in Guatemala where the talks took place. According to New York Times journalist Stephen Kinzer, “The timing was propitious.”¹² The plan proposed at Esquipulas included the disarmament of the Contras and the holding of free elections. Nevertheless, the initial meeting ended without a signed commitment.

A second meeting of these leaders, Esquipulas II, was planned for August 1987, and the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, was again invited. Ortega and his comrades had dismissed previous talk of peace with the Contras, but now factors conspired to change their minds. In Nicaragua, inflation was out of control. The economy was broke; basic staples were unavailable. Dozens of young Nicaraguans were dying in the war every week. Pressure was building for change.

During the peace talks of Esquipulas II, a network of prayer vigils were held by evangelical Christian churches throughout Nicaragua.¹³ In a single marathon session lasting well into the night, the five Central American presidents hammered out a plan to bring peace. Before leaving, all of them signed the document, including President Ortega. When he returned to Nicaragua, the other leaders in the Sandinista revolution were shocked, but in the end acceded to the peace plan. Nevertheless, they became angrier in their rhetoric, and cracked down heavily on protestors.¹⁴ Peace seemed more remote than ever.

Then the capper came: On October 13, 1987, just two months after Esquipulas II, Oscar Arias, the Costa Rican president leading the talks, won the Nobel Peace prize. The Sandinistas had always claimed to want peace. Now, with the world spotlight on Arias’s peace plan, the pressure was really on to honor the accord. President Daniel Ortega’s signing the Esquipulas II Peace Plan was the first providentially guided event in bringing peace to Nicaragua. But the war raged on, and few people “thought it would end anytime soon. Sandinistas adamantly refused to negotiate with the Contra leaders. Two other unforeseen and unlikely events needed to occur in close succession.

Two months after Esquipulas II, a second event occurred. On October 31, 1987, the Sandinista president Daniel Ortega made a sudden unexpected visit to Moscow to meet with Soviet leaders. Before he left, he made a mysterious comment, “We have not closed ourselves off to reaching an agreement.”¹⁵ Ortega returned to Nicaragua five days later and immediately appeared at a pro-Sandinista rally, where he made a stunning announcement: “We are going to negotiate a cease-fire through an intermediary.”¹⁶ Though no records of Ortega’s meetings with Soviet leaders were ever made public, it became clear what had happened in Moscow. The Soviets, after sending billions of dollars of armaments to Nicaragua, were going to withdraw their support. The Sandinistas knew that time was short to bring an end the war. Due to circumstances beyond their control, the Sandinistas were doing things they had sworn emphatically many times they would never do.

Then, a third crucial event occurred. On February 3, 1988, the U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly to cut off all aid to the Contras. With that historic vote, all hope of Contras’ continuing large-scale military actions against the Sandinista government suddenly vanished. The Contra leaders now scrambled to make some political gains while they still had a viable force. This was happening at the very time when the Sandinistas were—astonishingly—making offers to negotiate a peace.

So it was that one month later, after meeting for two days of intense negotiations, the leaders of the Sandinista revolutionary government and the counterrevolutionary forces filed into the press conference room together to sign the Peace Accord of Sapoá. From the first days of the Sandinista rule, the national anthem of Nicaragua had been jettisoned in favor of militant revolutionary songs, inspiring schoolchildren to take up arms and fight for the revolution. But on this day of March, 1988, just before the signing of the peace accord, the strains of the old national anthem once more came over the loudspeakers. It was a prophetic song that had not been heard for years:

Be saved, O Nicaragua! On your soil

The sound of the cannon echoes no more;

Nor does the blood of brothers

Stain your glorious bicolor banner.

Kinzer reported, “Jaws dropped and eyes opened wide in amazement as Sandinista and Contra leaders sang the anthem together …It was a sight many had never imagined.”¹⁷ The leaders of the opposing groups then signed the accord. The Catholic archbishop of Nicaragua, Miguel Obando y Bravo signed also as a witness. The world was stunned. A Nicaraguan employee of the New York Times kept repeating, “I can’t believe they signed!”¹⁸ A radio commentator that night called it “something right out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not.”¹⁹ Kinzer summed it up this way: “It was an answer to every Nicaraguan’s most fervent prayer, the sudden bursting of dawn after a long black night.”²⁰

That day, March 23, 1988, marked the end of the bloodiest civil conflict in Nicaragua’s violent history. Many thought the cease-fire would not last very long. Nevertheless, it ushered in a period of peace and freedom that has lasted to this date, the longest period of stability without violence or dictatorship since 1890.²¹ On the 25^th anniversary of Sapoá, one of the signers, Alfredo César, said, “Today politics [in Nicaragua] is done with proposals…, before Sapoá, politics was done with bullets.”²² This was a defining moment in the history of a nation. It came after Christians of every denomination and political persuasion humbled themselves, joined together, and prayed for their country.

Two years after the Peace of Sapoá, the first truly free election in Nicaraguan history was held. Against the predictions of all the polls, Nicaraguans overwhelmingly voted out the communist revolutionary leaders from power, electing Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the first woman president in Central American history.

But the Peace of Sapoá was the harbinger of even greater events in the world. The year following Sapoá, 1989, there began a chain of even more amazing changes. Beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a domino chain of countries broke free from the yoke of communist dictatorship and joined the community of free democratic republics. Within two years, East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia; millions of people—all were free. Finally, in 1991, the Soviet Union, the military power behind all these communist governments, simply unraveled and collapsed, freeing another fistful of republics. And the most amazing aspect of all these revolutions is that they came without almost any violence. And behind nearly every one, there were Christians that had been praying fervently. In fact, a little-known story behind these key events is that often the leaders of the peaceful revolutions were Christians, many of them pastors. This was most notably the case in East Germany, Poland, and Romania.

The world has not become a perfect society. Many of the nations that were freed in that period of 1988-92 are still struggling with the challenges of self-government. Nicaragua is no exception. A glance at the headlines tells us that still other nations are beset with the related problems of corruption, poverty, oppression and civil warfare. Nevertheless, if we study history, Christians should take heart. God has good plans; he hears the prayers of His people, and He is able to do what all the experts and pundits and world leaders think is impossible. The Peace Accord of Sapoá is one small example. Our job is to pray, and to “make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to obey” all that Jesus has taught us. When we do that, we will see His kingdom come, His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

___

Kelley Vincent and his wife Sarah have served as missionaries and teachers with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for 35 years. Kelley has been high school teacher and principal of a Christian school affiliated with YWAM. For over 24 years, he has been training missionary teachers in Christian worldviews and a providential philosophy of history, government and education. He has taught seminars both in the U.S. and in a number of Latin American countries, including Mexico, Colombia, and Guatemala. Kelley and Sarah are currently serving in Diriamba, Nicaragua, (www.ywamnicaragua.org) where they teach in an elementary school for children at risk. Kelley also directs Maestros Para las Naciones, a 3-month Spanish language school to equip teachers, pastors and parents with a Christian philosophy and methodology of education. Kelley is currently finishing a providential history book in Spanish for Latin American children. You can learn more by writing him at: ke***********@ju**.com.

Endnotes:

Kinzer, Stephen, Blood of Brothers—Life and War in Nicaragua (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1991), p. 84.
Belli, Humberto, “Curso historia de Nicaragua” History lectures given at La Salle, Managua, Nicaragua, March, 2013. Dr. Belli is former minister of education, 1990-97, and author of the book Breaking Faith: The Sandinista Revolution and its Effect on Freedom and Christian Faith in Nicaragua (Westchester, Illinois.: Crossway Books, 1985).
Kinzer, op. cit., p. 392.
Belli, op. cit.
Kinzer, op. cit., p. 348-49.
Ibid., p. 353. This occurred on September 10, one month after the Esquipulas II talks had concluded.
Ibid, p. 354.
Mojon, Roberto, former employee of CEPAD, private interview with author, Oct 17, 2013.
Ibid.
Kinzer, op. cit., p. 204.
Mojon, op. cit.
Kinzer, op. cit. p. 347.
Mojon, op. cit.
Kinzer, op. cit., pp. 352.
Ibid., p. 359.
Ibid., p. 359.
Ibid., p. 372.
Ibid., p. 373.
Ibid., p. 373.
Ibid., p. 373.
Cesar, Alfredo, “Sapoa”, La Prensa, Opinion page, March 23, 2013. Translation from Spanish by author.
Ibid.

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Announcing the Retirement of Mark Beliles

The Providence Foundation wishes to inform our friends that Mark Beliles is retiring from his official service with us. Mark launched the organization in August 1983 and has served for 30 years in various roles as its first President, then Chairman of the Board of Directors, and recently as the President of the Transformation Network (while also continuing to serve as a general board member).

While Mark is retiring from his official responsibilities with the Providence Foundation, he will continue to work with us as much as possible as an instructor and advisor. We are happy that he is willing to continue to voluntarily provide some of his time and talents to our organization.

Stephen McDowell will continue to direct and provide leadership for the Providence Foundation as he has for 30 years. We will continue to offer much-needed materials and training to equip people to think Biblically and live in Christian liberty. We will carry on the mission to train and network leaders of faith, education, government, business, and all spheres of life to transform their cultures for Christ.

Mark plans to focus on the passion of his heart, which primarily is to coach leaders in America and around the world to bring Godly transformation of nations in all the seven mountains or influential areas of culture. We have agreed together that the National Transformation Network that he launched in 2004 will henceforth operate as a separate sister organization of Providence, working closely together, but be legally separate. He is also releasing new books he has written on the religious life of Thomas Jefferson and is launching a new organization called the America Company.

Although legally separate ministries, the plan is to mutually promote and refer people to connect to each other’s organizations and products. We believe this will be a wonderful collaborative arrangement for many years to come and for the most part no one will notice any change. Providence Foundation will continue to support Mark and his ministry, and Mark wishes that everyone continue to support Providence just as they always have done.

We are grateful for the 30 years of service Mark has made to the Providence Foundation and look forward to what God has in store in the future as we jointly work together to bring Godly transformation to America and the nations.

The Board of Directors

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America’s Holidays (Articles)

1. Presidents

2. Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving

3. Columbus’ Christian Character and Divine Mission

4. Patrick Transforms a Nation: An Example for Today

5. What Really Happened on July 4th

6. Martin Luther and Reformation Day

7. Remembering the Thanksgiving Story

8. Christ’s Incarnation and Divinity

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Historic Documents

Proclamations

To read more on the Founding Fathers and the story of America read our articles and to receive similar articles sign up for our email newsletter.

President George Washington, Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, 1789

Governor Thomas Jefferson, Virginia, Thanksgiving Proclamation, December 9, 1779

Proclamation for a Public Thanksgiving, New Hampshire, December 10, 1778

Proclamation for Thanksgiving Day, Continental Congress, December 18, 1777

The Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents Reveal Their Christian Faith Pt. 1

CORRESPONDENCE AND OTHER WRITINGS OF SIX MAJOR SHAPERS OF THE UNITED STATES:
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. Over 176,000 searchable documents, fully annotated, from the authoritative Founding Fathers Papers projects.

Issued during the American Revolutionary War by the Continental Congress, this was the first national Thanksgiving Day in America. The explanation of the proclamation is from W. DeLoss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (1895). Love lists over 1400 days of prayer and fasting and prayer and thanksgiving observed by civil governments (colonial, state, and national) from 1620-1815.

Proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, Massachusetts, June 29, 1676

On June 20, 1676, the Council of Massachusetts appointed June 29 as a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, in response to the colonists’ victory in King Philip’s War. The broadside of this proclamation is the earliest printed thanksgiving broadside known. At the top is the seal of Massachusetts, which shows an Indian speaking the words, “Come Over and Help Us.”

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The Forefathers Monument: A Matrix of Liberty

For PDF Version: The Forefathers Monument: A Matrix of Liberty

By Stephen McDowell

The National Monument to the Forefathers, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, commemorates the Pilgrims, their planting the colony of Plymouth, and their contribution to the American nation at large. This 81-foot-tall granite structure also provides a matrix for how to build a free society based upon the Biblical ideals and worldview of these early settlers.

From the original concept in 1820 to the laying of the cornerstone in 1859 to its dedication in 1889, it was nearly three-quarters of a century in the making, and contains in simple imagery the great wisdom of the founding era. The components of this significant yet unknown monument teach us how we can preserve America as a shining city upon a hill, an example of liberty to the world.

The monument is composed of numerous statues; the most prominent is Faith, standing with one hand pointed to the heavens and the other holding a Bible. At the base of the pedestal where Faith stands are four seated statues representing Morality, Law, Education, and Liberty. Flanking these allegorical figures are smaller engravings representing more components of the template of liberty.

One of the numerous engravings on the monument contains a quote from Governor William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, and depicts well why these people have been called the “parents of our republic.”

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all praise.

The monument provides us a matrix of liberty based upon the worldview of our forefathers. Their ideas worked, as they gave birth to the most free, prosperous, virtuous, and just nation the world has ever seen. If we apply those same principles today, and build according to the successful pattern, we can expect the same results.

Faith

Just as the statue of Faith is the central figure in the Forefathers Monument, the foundational building block of all societies is the faith of the people. All nations are religious; that is, all nations are built upon a set of ideas and principles that are ultimately rooted in the faith of the people. Every nation appeals to some authority to determine what they consider to be correct or lawful behavior. Each nation has some power they look to that they consider to be sovereign, whether consciously or unconsciously.

The founders of America, from the early Pilgrims and Puritans who colonized many of the states through those men who gave us our American Christian Constitutional Republic, understood that the foundation of free nations rests in true religion. True religion is not where man is god, nor is it one of the many man-made religions. The statue of Faith points to the heavens, to the Creator of all things, and holds a Bible with the pages peeled open, which indicates that true faith emanates from the living Word of God as revealed in the Bible. Benjamin Rush, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the father of medicine in America, wrote in 1806: “Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopt its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy.”[1]

Central to the Christian faith is the message that God through Christ redeems man and gives him a living faith through a supernatural internal transformation of the heart. God via His Spirit gives man a new nature and writes His law upon man’s heart. This internal transformation is the beginning of building godly nations. Since only the God of the Bible can bring about this supernatural transformation, only the God of the Bible can change a nation for good.

Biblical transformation is from the internal to the external. Yet, God not only transforms the heart, He also gives principles and precepts in His Word for how we should live and conduct affairs of life. Faith has a star upon her head, indicating she receives wisdom from above. The four seated statues below Faith represent Morality, Law, Education, and Liberty; but more specifically they represent Biblical Morality, Biblical Law, Biblical Education, and Biblical Liberty. The founders understood the necessity of building the nation upon the Christian faith and worldview.

Morality

No nation can long endure without virtue or morality in the people. A loss of principles and manners is the greatest threat to a free people and will cause its downfall more surely than any foreign enemy. Samuel Adams, the father of the American Revolution, said, “While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.”[2] He went on to say that the greatest security from enslavement in a country is morality among the people.

Everyone’s fundamental rights are threatened by a lack of morality in the people. People of character will desire to observe the law and will not willfully take the life, liberty or property of others. Consequently, people will not live in fear of other citizens. In addition, less government will be required in a virtuous nation. Since fewer people will violate the law, a large police force and judicial system will not be needed. Law-making bodies will also have less to do because prohibitive laws will be at a minimum, as citizens will constrain themselves.

In a virtuous nation the rulers will be moral. This produces more freedom because the rulers will not usurp individual rights through bad legislation, and they will not steal from people through fiat money, excessive or graduated taxes, or other means. Consequently, citizens will not live in fear of civil government.

To our forefathers, Christianity was the source of morality. A Christian people are a people with a transformed nature. Those who are redeemed through Christ are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), having a new heart and new desires. Regenerated Christians no longer seek the temporary pleasures of sin, but they seek to please their loving Father and the great Creator. No longer do they desire to live according to their own selfishness, but they seek to obey His commands and live in accordance with His righteous standard.

The nature of redeemed man living under the New Covenant in Christ is reflected in the statue of Morality in that she has the Ten Commandments in her left hand and the scroll of revelation in her right, both being necessary to build a free nation. In the New Covenant, God’s word is written upon our hearts (Hebrews 8:10; Jeremiah 31:33). We are empowered from within to live in accordance with God’s revealed Word as summarized by the Ten Commandments. In the niches in the base of Morality’s throne are engravings of the Evangelist writing the Gospel and of Prophecy. This Gospel is first written within the heart, which will then flow out and affect all spheres of life.

As we mature as Christians, we become more like Him in character and thought. We gradually display more of His holiness and character, seeking to be honest, loving, kind, pure, self-governed, industrious, and much more. This Christian character or morality is essential for a free nation. A nation of regenerated men is essential for a nation of free men. The statue representing Morality has no eyes for she is looking inward, indicating there must first be internal liberty within man before there can be external liberty in society.

Law

All nations have a religious foundation. They are built upon a set of ideas and principles which are ultimately rooted in a people’s faith or in who or what they consider to be sovereign. These ideas are reflected in the laws of a nation. Hence, law is the working religion of a people. Law emanates from what a people consider to be right and true. Thus when a society institutes laws, they are encoding what they consider to be truth, which reveals who they consider to be sovereign. From a Biblical perspective, law and truth are related.

The founders of America considered the Bible to be the source of truth, and they sought to not only build their lives upon its precepts, but also their civil laws. The Pilgrims wrote in their General Laws that “Laws … are so far good and wholesome, as by how much they are derived from, and agreeable to the ancient Platform of God’s Law.”[3] In the Massachusetts Body of Liberties (which was a precursor to our Bill of Rights), written by Rev. Nathaniel Ward in 1641, the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) was the basis for its criminal code, and “in case of the defect of a law in any partecular case” the standard was “the word of God.”[4]

When our Founding Fathers appealed to “the laws of nature and of nature’s God” in the Declaration of Independence, they believed this to mean that God reveals His law (His truth) by general revelation in nature and the conscience of man (the laws of nature) and by special revelation in the Bible (the laws of nature’s God). Thus they would almost universally agree with these words of Noah Webster, the author of the first exhaustive English dictionary and the most influential educator of the nineteenth century:

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.[5]

God’s law-word will provide justice to all members of society, because all people stand equal before His law. Yet, the Scriptures reveal that God is not only just, but He is also merciful. The two carved reliefs underneath the throne where Law is seated reflect this, as one represents Justice and the other Mercy. Our forefathers sought to administer civil justice while always having God’s mercy in view.

Education

A people cannot be ignorant and free. Benjamin Franklin said that ignorance produces bondage: “A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”

America’s founders believed that all people must be educated in order to know the truth (God) for themselves. Everyone should have access to the Bible, God’s source of truth to mankind. This Christian idea motivated the early settlers to start schools and colleges, and to also translate the Bible into the language of the Native americans.

The Massachusetts school law of 1647, which provided directions for educating youth, begins, “It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures.”[6] One of the original rules of Harvard College, established in 1636, states: “Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternall life, (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.”[7] Puritan minister John Eliot worked for decades to give the Algonquin Indians a written language and then to publish the Bible in their language (1661-63). This was the first Bible printed in America.

Education in America for the first few centuries was centered in the home, because everyone believed it was the right and responsibility of parents to govern the education of their children. A statue to the Pilgrim Mother in Plymouth, Massachusetts, bears the inscription: “They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God, without which nations perish.” The American home passed on the faith and virtue necessary for liberty. To our founders, the most important aspect of education was to impart Christian character, to shape the inner man. Upon this foundation they taught a worldview deeply rooted in the Bible that provided instruction for all spheres of life. These ideas are reflected in the monument.

The statue of Education is holding an open book of knowledge (the Bible) implying its truth must be passed to all. Flanking her throne are two carved reliefs; one is Youth (the object of the parents instruction) and the other Wisdom (represented by a grandfather) pointing to the commands and an open Bible, with the world at his feet. The family, both parents and grandparents, were to teach the youth how the world works from a Biblical perspective. Education is wearing a wreath of victory, which is obtained when children are well-instructed in the Lord.

Liberty

The fruit of a people with Biblical faith, morality, law, and education is liberty. The Forefathers Monument tells us that Christianity produces liberty. After all, Jesus came to liberate man: “It was for freedom that Christ came to set us free.”[8] Jesus came to set us free, both internally and externally. He gave us internal freedom from the bondage of sin as well as external freedom from the fruit of sin in the earth. He came to give us both personal and civil freedom. He came to not only bring internal personal salvation, but also external political freedom. Christ Jesus provided God’s pathway to liberty for man, which is from the internal to the external.

God is the author of liberty, all liberty. Engraved on the memorial honoring him are these words of Thomas Jefferson: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” Our founders knew, in the words of Jefferson’s pastor Rev. Charles Clay, that “the sacred cause of liberty [is] the cause of God.”[9]

Historian of the American Revolution, David Ramsay, said: “There can be no political happiness, without liberty; there can be no liberty without morality; and there can be no morality, without religion.”[10] When our founders spoke of religion, they meant Christianity, for Christianity was true religion to them. Noah Webster wrote in his United States history textbook:

Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion. . . 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.[11]

It is important that we understand the great liberty that God desires us to have. Lack of knowledge of the value and source of our liberty has caused many people today, including many Christians, to give up their liberty for a little security and care. Like Esau, we have traded our birthright for a bowl of pottage. The freedom our forefathers gave us can only be preserved if we are willing to defend it at all costs. The seated statue Liberty has a sword in his hand, prepared to protect the family and protect liberty. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; and it is necessary to overcome Tyranny (depicted in one carved relief) and preserve Peace (depicted in another).

Most Americans today have forgotten the source of, and price paid for, our liberty. We have abandoned the principles necessary to live free. We have put aside the matrix of liberty presented to us in the Forefathers Monument. We have failed to acknowledge God Almighty as the giver of life and liberty. Consequently, we have begun to lose our liberty, our happiness, and all the fruit that comes from obeying the King of all nations. Let us cry out with our Founders for God to once again deliver us from a house of bondage and use this nation as a “theater of greater events than have yet been known to mankind.”[12]

Lead a Monumental Study Course in Your Church or Community!

Teach others the ideas and principles needed to restore America and transform nations! Be a part of advancing God’s monumental story.

Have you felt a need in yourself, your church or community for truth to be known? YOU can influence the people in your area by teaching or facilitating the Monumental: Restoring America as the Land of Liberty study course.

No teaching experience is needed because this course is designed so that you can facilitate the information in an interactive and engaging way by listening to Kirk Cameron and Stephen McDowell discuss the main points of each of the chapters in the book.

America has undergone a radical shift in recent times, from an exceptional nation – the most free, prosperous, and virtuous in history – to a nation in decline.

There are numerous signs of decay in the American culture: the breakdown of the family, with 40% of children (70% of African-Americans) born outside of marriage; the abandonment of sexual morals, with two-thirds of people embracing premarital sex; the decline of education; the killing of over 50 million unborn children since abortion was legalized; the rise of big government, with ever-increasing debt (over $20 trillion), regulations, paper work, and control; the growing hostility to Christianity in schools, colleges, the military, business, and government.

The good news is that we can do something to solve these problems and restore America. We can follow the blueprint that the Founders of the nation gave us to build a free nation.

Monumental: Restoring America as the Land of Liberty, was made as a follow up to the award winning film Monumental.

It contains the film, Monumental; a book expanding many of the ideas introduced in the film, DVDs containing discussions between Kirk Cameron and Stephen McDowell of each of the 12 chapters, and review questions for each chapter. You can either teach the material yourself or, more easily, facilitate watching the DVDs, directing readings from the book, and leading the discussions of the review questions. This can be used by individuals, homeschoolers, schools, churches, and discussion groups.

This course is the ideal means of providing you and your family and friends with the ideas necessary to live in Christian liberty and take one step further in restoring America to a land of liberty.

Lead a Monumental course today by ordering on our website!

Additional books for each student can also be ordered.

We have Powerpoint slides that can be used with teaching the course. Contact us for details.

End Notes

[1] Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical, Philadelphia: printed by Thomas and William Bradford, 1806, p. 93.

[2] Rosalie J. Slater, Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History, San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1980, p. 251.

[3] The Laws of the Pilgrims, A Facsimile Edition of The Book of the General Laws of the Inhabitants of the Jurisdiction of New – Plimouth, 1672 & 1685, Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1977, p. the Preface.

[4] Sources of Our Liberties, Richard L. Perry, editor, New York: American Bar Foundation, 1952, p. 148.

[5] Noah Webster, History of the United States, New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832, p. 309.

[6] Richard Morris, editor, Significant Documents in United States History, Vol. 1, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1969, p. 19.

[7] Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell, America’s Providential History, Charlottesville, Vir.: Providence Foundation, 1989, p. 110.

[8] Galatians 5:1, NASB.

[9] Charles Clay, An Artillery Sermon on The Governor Among the Nations, c. 1777, contained in the Clay Family Papers (Mss 1c5795a), Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia.

[10] Maxims of Washington, compiled by John Frederick Schroeder, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1854, p. 352.

[11] Noah Webster, History of the United States, New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833, pp. 273-274.

[12] From an Address on American Independence by Elias Boudinot, President of the Continental Congress.

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The Cost and Fruit of Biblical Revival

The Cost and Fruit of Biblical Revival

For PDF Version: The Cost and Fruit of Biblical Revival

Excerpts from Biblical Revival and the Transformation of Nations by Stephen McDowell

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake on March 21, 1556. He had espoused ideas on the authority of the Pope, the doctrine of the sacrament, and other things that were contrary to the doctrine of the established church. He faced pressures from authorities and threats to his life to recant. He did recant some of his ideas in writing, but was sentenced to death anyway. He repudiated his recantation in his last words before being tied to the stake in a street in Oxford, England. John Foxe records:

And when the wood was kindled, and the fire began to burn near him, he stretched forth into the flames his right hand, which had signed his recantation, and there held it so steadfastly, that the people might see it burned to a coal before his body was touched. In short, he was so patient and constant in the midst of these extreme tortures, that he seemed to move no more than the stake to which he was bound; his eyes were lifted up to heaven, and often he repeated the word,

This unworthy right hand!” so long as his voice would suffer him; and often used the words of the blessed martyr St. Stephen, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” till, the fury of the flames putting him to silence, he gave up the ghost.[1]

The fire that consumed Thomas Cranmer was so hot that it scorched doors on the buildings scores of feet away from where this martyr was giving up his life for the Truth. Cranmer was one of many people who gave his life to help bring about the Protestant Reformation, a Biblical revival that still impacts the world today.

Revival requires a great cost. Revivals throughout history have resulted in the death of thousands and thousands of people.[2] Those who have seen the Truth and commit to live by it no matter what, will most likely encounter some form of persecution. It has happened throughout history and is happening today in many nations. In America we experience minimal persecution thanks to those who established this nation upon Christian principles and ideas; but this is changing as we remove the Christian foundations.

Protestant Reformation

The focal point of the Protestant Reformation was the Bible being translated and made available in the common languages of the people. People began to read the Bible, and when they did these things happened: 1) Individuals were transformed; 2) The Church began to be changed, putting off corruption; 3) The state was gradually reformed. The fruit of the Reformation was revival of individuals, restoration of the church, and reformation of all society.

God uses individuals to change nations and the course of history. Some of those people God used in the Protestant Reformation included Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tyndale, and John Knox.

[See Biblical Revival and the Transformation of Nations and America’s Providential History to learn more about these reformers.]

William Tyndale

God’s chief instrument in bringing the Reformation in England was William Tyndale. Much of Tyndale’s life was spent fulfilling his vision: “If God preserves my life, I will cause a boy that driveth a plow to know more of the Scriptures than the pope.”[3] During 12 years in exile from England, he translated the Bible from the original languages with the idea of making it available to the common man. His New Testament was published in 1525 and his Old Testament about eleven years later. His work served as the basis for other English translations that would follow (including the King James Version), and, in fact, formed the foundation of the modern English language.

In 1536 Tyndale was burned at the stake. What was his crime? He was declared a heretic for giving the English people the Bible in their own language, desiring them to read the Word of God for themselves. Americans today find it hard to understand how this could be a crime punishable by death. We are so far removed from such tyranny, thanks to Tyndale and others making the liberating fruit of Biblical ideas available to those who founded this nation, we cannot imagine how dark these days were.

Revivals generally occur in a day of deep moral darkness and national depression. Failure to know and teach history keeps us ignorant today of how Christianity has liberated man. At the time of the Reformation, tyranny was the norm in civil government. Monarchy was most prevalent. Nothing was known of individuals establishing their own governments, and the rights of the individual were of little importance. There was little freedom. The people paid taxes to the king, to the barons, and to the priests, but they had no voice in saying what or how much the taxes would be.

In matters of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom of worship were foreign to most people. The leadership of the church was like the blind leading the blind into the ditch. They were telling the people that God required of them all kinds of things that had no basis in truth. But the people did not know the truth for they did not have access to the Bible, the source of all truth, and even if they had a Bible, most people could not read it, for not one in a thousand could read. Many people who read the Bible or thought for themselves were considered heretics. These people were often tortured and punished. Many torture chambers came into being to “discover” who the heretics were—to get these people to confess to their crimes. They were put on the racks; the “thumb-squashers” were used on them; some were put in iron maidens; some were tied up in sacks and thrown into the river; many were burnt at the stake (like Huss and Tyndale). After all, they were “heretics,” and had to be purged from the land.[4]

Priests charged a fee for everything, including granting absolution for sin. They sold relics as well. Archbishop Peckham said in 1281, “The ignorance of the priests casteth the people into the ditch of error…. [T]he country lay under a dark pall of superstition and ignorance. Everywhere friars traveled with their holy relics which, for a fee, could be viewed and kissed. In Germany, in the city of Martin Luther, at Wittenberg in Saxony, the Castle Church contained over seventeen thousand relics including part of the rock on which Jesus stood when He wept over Jerusalem, the gown of the virgin Mary…, a piece from the burning bush of Moses, thirty-five portions of the cross, hay and straw from the manger at Bethlehem, some hair from Christ, His coat and girdle, and even a complete skeleton of one of the babes murdered by Herod at Bethlehem! The Elector of Saxony was proud of his collection. This was an Indulgence Church, and the pilgrim could earn one hundred and twenty-seven thousand seven hundred and nine years and one hundred and sixteen days off purgatory by viewing them all; as a bonus he helped to increase the Church revenues.”[5]

Luther, Calvin, Tyndale and others were God’s instruments of liberty. The people were ignorant, and this kept them in bondage. Isaiah 5:13 declares that, “My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge.” Remember, a key aspect of revival is the restoration and establishment of truth.

Revivals in the Old Testament, and often under the New Covenant, began in the heart of one or more consecrated servants of God who became the energizing power behind the awakening. Tyndale was one such man who gave all to see God’s truth established. Others paid a great price as well. Many who embraced the truth were martyred merely for teaching ideas contrary to those held by the church.

Fruit of the Protestant Reformation

The fruit of the Protestant Reformation is still impacting the world after nearly five centuries. One of its most immediate positive effects was shaping the new nation of America. The people who gave birth to the original thirteen colonies were a product of the Protestant Reformation. Many of them had been driven from Europe as they sought to live out their new-found faith. The Pilgrims, Puritans, and pioneers who settled America were a product of the Bible. This book first began to become available to commoners in their language (German, English, French, etc.) as a result of the Protestant reformers. The Bible was by far the single most important book in the birth, growth, and development of the United States. In fact, without God and the Bible there would be no America as we know it today.[6]

The fruit of this revival impacted individuals. Multitudes put away sin, destroyed personal and social idols, and turned to the worship of God. It impacted the church as well. New theological ideas were recovered – Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”), Sola fide (“by faith alone”), Sola gratia (“by grace alone”), Solus Christus or Solo Christo (“Christ alone” or “through Christ alone”), Soli Deo gloria (“glory to God alone”) – and many new churches and church denominations came into being that were built upon these ideas. It also impacted the society at large.

As people begin to read and study the Bible, its comprehensive worldview began to govern the thoughts and actions of men. Liberty began to advance, not only personal liberty, but also religious, civil, political, and economic liberty. A profusion of civil documents of liberty began to come forth in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (such as the Mayflower Compact, the English Petition of Rights, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Massachusetts Body of Liberties, the English Bill of Rights, the Frame of Government of Pennsylvania, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution[7]). These were only possible due to the Bible translations in the prior two centuries.

New ideas of religious freedom, representative government, individual enterprise, jurisdictional authority, limited government, and private property began to shape America and influence some European nations. A new era of liberty and prosperity began to come into the world.

…

To learn about various revivals in history, the fruit of these revivals, and what you can do to see God bring much-needed Biblical revival today, order Biblical Revival and the Transformation of Nations.

[1] Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, edited by Marie Gentert King, Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1978, p. 245.

[2] See Foxes Book of Martyrs, Fair Sunshine by Jock Purves, and By Their Blood, Christian Martyrs of the 20^th Century by James and Marti Hefley for the stories of some who were persecuted and killed.

[3] Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell, America’s Providential History, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2010, p. 53.

[4] The 5th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits forcing anyone to testify against himself. This came about in response to the practice of torturing people until they confessed to a “crime,” which they often did even if not guilty.

[5] Brian Edwards, God’s Outlaw, Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1976, p. 40.

[6] See Stephen McDowell, Building Godly Nations, Chapter 4, “The Bible: Rock of Our Republic,” Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2004, pp. 59 ff.

[7] For more on the development of these and other documents of liberty, see McDowell, Building Godly Nations, pp. 105 ff.

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