God and Government

Because of some recent conversations, I'm tempted to take on this overwhelming topic. I think for a lot of Christians, there is this separation between government and God, and I'm not entirely sure it's an accurate separation, nor a healthy one.

Long ago, the colonies of America, under British rule, were incurring tax upon tax from London without having a voice in the Legislature to articulate the colonial position or sentiments. When push came to shove, the colonies formed a Make-shift army and rebelled against Britain. At first it was just a rebellion, there was no interest of independence, at least not outwardly. Eventually, and especially when Britain's response was to make quick work of the rebellion by "conquering the American Colonies", the colonists decided they needed to claim their own sovereignty. For most of the war, Washington and his troops were on the run, retreating at every encounter with superior British forces. His army was built largely of undisciplined farmers, smiths, and drunkards who were more of an embarassment than a real threat to the British. It was a long long road to victory, one filled with tiny miracles, which when analyzed on their own may seem like convenient coincidences, but when stacked upon each other, point more toward Divine Intervention. One such miralce happened on the eve of August 30, 1776.

Washington, at this point, had won a few victories that served more to boost British resolve than make the Continental Army particulary effective. At this point Washington's army is in New York to defend against an eminent British invasion. The 9,000 member Continental Army was facing a 30,000 member British Army. The initial battle was devastating and drove the Americans back to Brooklyn Heights. Taking refuge on the hill put them in an awful position, they were surrounded by water on three sides and by 30,000 British troops on land. Furthermore, the British Royal Navy with 300 ships was making it's way up the bay, nearing the river to cut them off completely. Surely this meant the end of the rebellion. On the eve of August 30, 1776, the Americans were planning a retreat.

The troops were told they were going to attack the British that night, at 7pm, all soldiers ready, the move began. Officers guided the troops down to the ferry where the inexperienced and the sick and wounded were loaded first for the RETREAT under the auspices that their reinforcements had arrived to replace them. "The thing was conducted with so much secrecy that neither subalterns or privates knew the whole army was to cross back again to New York," Lt. Tench Tilghman wrote. Major Benjamin Tallmadge of Connecticut later wrote of Washington: "To move so large a body of troops, with all their necessary appendages, across a river full a mile wide, with a rapid current, in face of a victorious well-disciplined army nearly three times as numerous as his own, and a fleet capable of stopping the navigation, so that not one boat could have passed over, seemed to present most formidable obstacles." To add to the complications, the ebb tide and a northeast wind that was keeping the British Fleet from entering up the river was also proving a problem for the retreat. The order was made from General McDougall to call off the retreat because conditions were too treacherous. At 11pm, the Northeast wind became a Southwest wind, and the retreat began. Troops, supplies, horses and cannons, all loaded onto tiny ferry boats making repeated trips from one bank to the other.

"Though nearly morning, a large part of the army still waited to embark, and without the curtain of night to conceal them, their escape was doomed. Incredibly, yet again, circumstances--fate, luck, Providence, the hand of God, as would be said so often--intervened. Just at daybreak a heavy fog settled in over the whole of Brooklyn, concealing everything no less than had the night. It was a fog so thick, remembered a soldier, that one 'could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance.' Even with the sun up, the fog remained as dense as ever, while over on the New York side of the river, there was no fog at all." David McCullough, 1776. That night, Washington successfully moved 9,000 troops out of harms way and began his famous campaign of retreat.

It wasn't until Christmas Morning, 1776, that Washington would have his victory at Trenton. The night before, blizzard-like conditions made the barefoot Continental Soldiers much slower than Washington had hoped... He wanted to get accross the Delaware River and over to just outside the Hessian encampments before midnight. That mark did not happen, however the snowy conditions did dampen the sounds made by an army on the move and allowed them the surprise attack and victory that ensued without a single American life lost.

The entire war was filled with moments like this, moments that I point to as the Hand of God intervening. It's not that God loved Americans and hated the British, I feel that He wanted this country to exist. And through the delicate and trying process of drafting and approving our current constitution, His hand is evident as well; consequently, I believe the Constitution to be an inspired document. Is it on par with the Bible? No. But, nevertheless, I feel that the debates and deliberations that decided what books should be massed together to form what we know to be the Bible today could easily be compared to the debates and deliberations that went into framing our Constitution and form of Government. And so, to think about our government as being something separate and unrelated to God is heartbreaking considering all the blessings He gave us in this nation's inception.

The fact is, this government was founded on a basic faith and trust in God. The whole reason for the colonies was to escape religious tyranny so that the early settlers could worship Him in whatever manner they saw best. Through our Constitution (if you are like me and believe God played a prominent role in it's creation) we can see that God's idea for us is to be a free people. This is evident in His attitude toward us in all aspects. He wants us to be free to make our own choices, and ultimately, He wants us to free to make a choice about Him. What better environment to foster that sort of freedom than in a free democratic republic? Any government at all is a violation of freedom on some level, but, as the Founding Fathers understood, having no government equals anarchy, and there are some things that need to be taken care of by a collective central authority (as I say frequently, the Preamble of the Constitution outlines the purpose of Government and Duties of Government beautifully), but lest that authority become corrupt, which is the nature of human existence, those citizens in places of authority must be put there by the majority rule of the people. Thus, we still maintain freedom through the Sovereignty of the People because the government can never do what we will not allow them to do. Unfortunately, when people are falsely educated in regards to our origins, they conclude falsely the responsibilities of our government. At that moment, our sovereignty is put in jeopardy. Just like Israel, when they strayed from God and were too lazy to uphold God's law and God delivered them into the hands of their God-less enemies, we too must strongly adhere to God's plan for us and be adamant in defending our freedoms or else we too face the possibility of being given over to our enemies.

*tangent* There is much todo about this fanciful "seperation of church and state" idea. This is an imaginary wall that was never intended to be taken as far and to be interpretted as preversely as it is today. The first Amendment in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . ." Funny how the first rule of the new form of government RESTRICTS Congress from making any law "establishing" or "Prohibiting the FREE EXCERCISE" of religion. In popular zeal to keep God and Government separated, those involved fail to understand that the clause they hold onto does not contradict, but rather reinforce the First Amendment. By interpretting it the way they do, they are infact, using the precedence of the Courtrooms to "Prohibit the Free Excercise" of religion, which is in DIRECT VIOLATION of the first amendment. *end tangent*