"Counting the cost" of genuine citizenship.

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The Delaware State Constitution from September 21, 1776, provides a snapshot into early American culture with its priority on the Judeo-Christian heritage and the Biblically based concepts and values put in place by the American Founders:

“Every person … appointed to any office … shall … make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”¹

The Old and New Testaments served as the benchmark for evaluating and judging culture since virtue is a necessary component of sustainable freedom and just government.

The 1776 Pennsylvania State Constitution reads:

“Each member, before he takes his seat, shall ... subscribe ... ‘I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and the Punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.’”²

However, French Revolution propagandists began infiltrating the halls of American higher education in the late 18th century with its secular creed of liberty, equality, and fraternity [Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité]. Notwithstanding, nearly all of the first 123 colleges and universities established in the United States had Christian origins and purposes.³

Secularism’s subterfuge culminated after a 150-year battle in American Christendom fading into the background, forcing America and American culture into a commitment to and formal agreement with religious secularism and State religion. The end result was the disintegration of the centuries old foundation laid down by the American Founders. Class warfare, division, disunion and schism, and empowerment groups hating America would now be the predominant influences and controls.

The civil foundation of a nation and its people is expressed in its laws and constitutions. The new State’s priests and ministers banned prayer to Jehovah in public schools in 1962 [Engel v. Vitale], outlawed the Bible from public education in 1963 [Abington School District v. Schempp], discovered a constitutional ‘right’ to kill unborn babies in 1973 [Roe v. Wade], tore down the Ten Commandments from public schools, courthouses, and government buildings in 1980 [Stone v. Graham], exalted, normalized, and codified into law homosexual intercourse and same-sex marriage in 2015 [Obergefell v. Hodges], and pronounced ‘special rights’ for homosexuals and transgenders in 2020 [Bostock v. Clayton County].

The ruinous Obergefell vs. Hodges decision in 2015 provides a prime example of falsehood. Five radically secular Justices fabricated the entirely fictional ‘constitutional right’ for homosexual intercourse and marriage, thereby completely brushing aside that the refusal to live within God-given boundaries established by the Founders will have dire consequences for the nation.

America’s current hedonistic and self-obsessed culture is primarily the downstream result of the secular faith initiated by the left-wing Warren Court [1953-1969] and its takeover and secular evangelization of America’s youth.

Falsehood breeds duplicity: the so-called legal experts decrying Florida Judge Aileen Cannon to recuse herself from Donald Trump’s classified documents case - since she was a Trump appointee - would show greater rectitude if they had objected to Democrat Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan hearing the Obergefell vs. Hodges case. Both had unconscionably performed homosexual marriages before hearing the case.

This brings us to the violation of God-given boundaries and the consequences brought on a nation.

Take former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who in 2015 was jailed for defying a U.S. federal court order to issue a marriage license to homosexual couples, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell vs. Hodges edict requiring all states to recognize homosexual marriage.

Following 8 years of judicial chicanery and vilification, Lexington’s WKYT-TV reports that a new trial date is set for September to determine the costs and damages Ms. Davis may owe the homosexual couple “for violating their constitutional rights!”⁴

What about Ms. Davis’ constitutional First Amendment rights under the Kentucky Constitution and the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act? Is she not entitled to her deeply-held Christian beliefs about marriage? Shouldn’t she be the one receiving damages for being wrongly imprisoned for upholding her oath of office?

“A jury [will] decide whether Davis will be on the hook for the likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees accrued over nearly 8 years now of ongoing litigation. The plaintiffs have asked for compensatory damages, pre-and post-judgment interest, costs, and attorneys’ fees!”⁵

God instituted marriage, stating in Genesis 2:24 that “For this reason a man [Heb. male] shall leave his father and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife [Heb. female]; and they shall become one flesh.” This is confirmed in Matthew 19:4-5: “Haven’t you read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’”

In order to counteract secularism’s onslaught in America, every church across America should encourage a pastor, elder, deacon, or congregant to run for local public office in 2024, 2026, 2028, and thereafter.

A Gideon Stands

Dr. Doug Richey [M.Div., M.A., Th.M., and D.Min.] began serving as Pisgah Baptist Church in 2005. He was the first MO Renewal Project pastor elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2018. Last week, Pastor Richey announced before 272 constituents his candidacy for the Missouri State Senate seat in 2024.

He said: “I was born into a Christian, blue-collar family that raised me in a small town. I know my roots. I know and am deeply convicted by our shared values and principles. To me, political involvement isn’t my identity, it’s a stewardship responsibility in the effort to preserve our constitutional liberties and to hold government accountable to its purpose. I stand ready to serve the folks of this district.”

With 50 North Carolina pastors and spiritual leaders running in 2022, 25 winning the primary, and 10 of the 25 being elected to local offices on November 8, 2022, ever more Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to stand.

David Lane

American Renewal Project

1. avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp#art1

2. www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1776-1865/pennsylvania-constitution-1776.html

3. David R. Reagan, America’s Suicide; Lamb & Lion Ministries, 2021.

4. www.wkyt.com/2023/03/13/trial-set-july-determine-costs-damages-kim-davis-could-owe-couples/