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Well, thanks for coming this morning. We'd had a little thing with wall builders.

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Tim had come about three or four years ago. How long has it been now?

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Three years? Oh, my.

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Anyway, he was scheduled to be with us here at OutWest, and then I was still at Water Springs,

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and he was going to come and do a presentation to the kids.

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And he got the dreaded COVID. It's all you guys' fault.

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And so he hung out in a motel room here in Idaho Falls for a couple days and sweated it out.

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And they were so gracious in getting back with us several times, actually,

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even when I was delinquent in getting back to them and was willing to come and share with us again.

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And so we're so thankful to have these guys and just what God's done with wall builders

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and Tim's dad, Dave, and really excited to have him here.

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So please welcome Tim Barton.

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Well, it is my pleasure to be back with you guys.

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If you're able to see the screens, I'm going to tell a lot of stories,

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show images on the screens as we go, actually.

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Will this work if I hold it here?

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Is that okay?

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All right.

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This is an assisted hearing device, but it was on the podium.

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It wasn't going to help him since I wasn't up at the podium.

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All right.

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So John Adams, in 1813, he wrote Thomas Jefferson a letter.

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And at this point, it's 40 years since the founding fathers first met.

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And he's reflecting back.

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And he says, remember, when we got together, we were much younger back then.

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And we had so many ideas.

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But when we got together, we disagreed about so many things.

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And he recounts all of this.

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But then it's interesting.

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He says, where they found common ground.

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And what he wrote Jefferson in the letter, he said,

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Where they found common ground were the principles of Christianity.

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Now, this is really interesting because this is literally what John Adams is writing Jefferson.

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And yet, if you were to go read virtually any textbook or history book today,

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you're not going to find this kind of sentiment in there.

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And it's maybe a curiosity as to why.

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We might get into some of that later.

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But for the founding fathers, they were very clear where the foundation of the nation came from,

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where it was built.

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In fact, when John Adams was asked about some of the most influential voices in the course of the revolution,

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he actually even pointed to pastors and who they were and what they did.

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And so this idea coming from a guy like just John Adams to start with,

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that Christianity was influenced in our founding,

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why would he maybe suggest that Christianity were those principles?

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And I would point out that this is something earlier historians talk so often and openly about.

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There was a female professor at Duke University.

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Her name was Alice Baldwin.

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She actually started the women's program at Duke University.

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She led it back in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s.

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But in 1928, she came out with a book called The New England Clergy and the American Revolution.

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And she actually went back and went through the history of the early pastors.

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But one of the things she identified is that when you look at the Declaration of Independence,

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every single grievance in the Declaration had been preached from American pulpits prior to 1763,

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which is more than a dozen years before we even get the Declaration.

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What she pointed out is that when the founding fathers came together,

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they actually didn't have any unique ideas.

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All they did was repeat what they'd been hearing from their pastors

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for several decades leading up to this moment.

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Now, that's also significant because you have a noted history to Duke University

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saying what today would be so contrary to thought.

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The idea that the founding fathers were influenced by their pastors.

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If you go back and study history, though, you see how evident this is just through history.

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Because when the founding fathers first got together, right,

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this is the famous painting depicting what we would know as a signing of the Declaration.

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It really was when the Committee of Five came back and presented the original draft of the Declaration.

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But this is what we often think of with the founding fathers.

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But that's not the first time they got together.

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The first time the founding fathers ever got together,

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John Adams says the opening motion was made by Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts.

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And Thomas Cushing, his opening motion.

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So they're meeting together.

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And to give you context, when they first meet, they don't know each other yet.

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Genuinely, they've been chosen by their own communities to represent their community as they go.

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Patrick Henry, he's never met Sam Adams before.

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These guys are brand new people.

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And so when they first come together in a meeting,

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the very first motion made is made by Thomas Cushing.

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And the opening motion was that they should start with prayer.

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Well, they discussed it for a little bit.

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They agreed and they opened with prayer.

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There's a very famous painting done depicting the very first meeting of Congress.

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Now, again, this is a very famous painting depicting the first meeting of Congress.

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And if you're close enough to see it, the imagery is pretty telling.

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Because clearly these are people at a prayer meeting.

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Right.

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The records of Congress identify that that opening prayer lasted for roughly two hours.

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I don't know how spiritual you feel this morning.

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But if I was to suggest, right, like, I love Jesus.

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We talk all the time.

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We're good friends.

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But I would like to know before an impromptu two-hour prayer meeting.

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Right.

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Like, I need to mentally prepare myself just a little bit in this moment.

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And let me point out, this isn't like the spiritual leaders of the nation.

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These were the politically minded leaders of the nation.

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And yet, faith was so evident that the first thing they do,

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the opening motion is prayer.

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And the prayer lasts for two hours.

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Well, it gets even better.

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Because John Adams, in writing Abigail about this,

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he said that in the midst of their prayer,

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somebody encouraged that we should maybe read something from the Bible as well.

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And so they went to the Book of Common Prayer, which was an Anglican prayer book.

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And it had assigned chapters to be read every day of the year.

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So it's like a Bible reading plan.

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And there were four chapters that were ascribed that morning.

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One of the chapters was something that when they read it,

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John Adams says it was as if God himself had ordained that chapter of the Bible to be read that morning.

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Here's what he wrote to Abigail about that.

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I must beg you to read that Psalm.

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Read the 35th Psalm to your friends.

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Read it to your father.

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Psalms 35 is one of the Psalms that David wrote while King Saul was chasing him, trying to kill him.

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And he writes and says,

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God, I've done nothing.

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And he seeks my destruction.

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Lord, you rise up.

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Be my shield, my buckler, my strong right arm.

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On he goes for more than 30 verses.

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And they read it that morning.

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Now, the Anglican prayer book that they're referencing to find these chapters was written back in the mid 1600s.

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So this is like 100 years before this moment.

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They open up and they're like, well, these are the four chapters for the day.

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And they read it.

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One of the other founding fathers said that that Psalm was accidentally extremely applicable to their situation.

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Right?

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Meaning like they weren't trying to find the most relevant verse in this moment.

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They were just reading the Bible and God so spoke to them in that moment.

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Well, not only do they open with a prayer meeting and have a Bible study.

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John Adams writes another letter to Abigail and tells her what else they've done.

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He says, we've appointed a continental fast.

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Now, this is the founding fathers, the first continental congress.

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And one of the first actions they take is they call on all of the colonies to a day of prayer and fasting.

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And as John Adams wrote, he said,

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Now, a couple of things to note.

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When John Adams says millions will be upon their knees, there's only about 3 million colonists at that time.

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So John Adams, I think probably naively and mistakenly, is assuming that like, well, everybody's going to pray.

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I don't know that everybody probably prayed.

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But it does tell us something about what he thought about their culture as well.

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That when it was time to pray, people were going to show up and they were going to pray.

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This is also kind of interesting as we track what Congress does in calling people to pray.

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Because this idea of Congress having a call to prayer is not a unique idea.

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If we go back and look at American history, by 1815, there had been more than 1,400 official government prayer proclamations.

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And I love pointing to this when someone likes to make the argument, well, you know, the founding fathers weren't really religious.

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Or they were atheists or agnostics or deists and all these arguments.

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This is my number one thing I like to point to.

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Because, right, if they didn't believe in God or separation of church and state or they're atheists, agnostics, and deists,

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then why do they pray all the time?

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Because you know what an atheist, agnostic, and deist is not going to do?

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That.

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Right?

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You're not going to call on, if you're the governor, if you're the president, or if you're Congress,

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you're not calling on your state or on the nation to pray.

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And yet they did it more than 1,400 times by 1815.

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Okay?

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Well, just during the American Revolution alone, they had 15 different calls to prayer from the Continental Congress.

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And there were two kinds of prayer proclamations.

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One was for prayer and fasting.

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One was for prayer and thanksgiving.

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And generally speaking, this was something that in moments of need, they would have a day of prayer and fasting,

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asking for God to help to intervene.

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But then it was only a couple months later that you'll find them having a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

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Why?

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Because they're thanking God for what they perceive to be his intervention in these moments.

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We need to go back and thank God for what he did.

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And then they need God's help.

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So they have a day of prayer and fasting.

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They need to thank God for what he did.

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So they have a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

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They went back and forth.

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Well, the very first call to prayer was for prayer and fasting because they needed God's help.

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They need God's intervention.

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And John Adams actually writes Abigail another letter.

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And I'm referencing several John and Abigail Adams letters.

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Part of the reason is because even though this kind of writing is very clear in many of the founding fathers' works,

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if you only are going to look at one place,

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John and Abigail Adams wrote 1,100 letters back and forth to each other from the revolution to the end of their life.

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It's a multi-volume set, but it's one place you can go look and you will find so many of these details.

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And depending on the kind of person you are,

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if you, for example, are someone who likes Hallmark movies, you would love their letters.

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Because they are like the hopeless romantics.

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I mean, Abigail, right?

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Really amazing, brave, courageous.

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But of course, she's a romantic.

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And John, he has letters where he starts off with like the essence of Abigail,

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I'm suffocating because I haven't seen you in over a week and you are the air that I breathe.

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Right?

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And that's like, if this wasn't a Hallmark movie, I'd be like, that's dumb.

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Nobody says that.

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Right?

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Except John Adams actually writes that kind of stuff.

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So you might like their writings, but they have a lot of information about what was going on, what they did.

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And John wrote Abigail a letter and said, Abigail, it's amazing.

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We have seen God's intervention in so many areas.

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And he goes through and talks about how the British attacked one of the American outposts.

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And the Americans were able to defend the British.

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And then there was a colonel who led men and they attacked a British fort and they took the British fort.

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And all of this is he's writing.

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It's also worth noting that at this point in time, Great Britain is the number one military power in the world.

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Ultimately, we had more militias than we had people in the Continental Army.

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And even the Continental Army, like we were not good at military stuff yet.

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This was, we were very, very bad.

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A lot of times I think we even have misconceptions because we feel like as people, especially in the country,

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we've grown up with guns, hunting, doing things.

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And we're like, hey, if we had to do something, we'd take care of it.

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Okay, I appreciate the sentiments, right?

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But if a bunch of us had to go up against like SEAL Team 6, we're all going to die, right?

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This is their reality is they might have some outdoorsmen and woodsmen,

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but it's a very different game they're playing and having to deal with.

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And so John Adams, as he's going through this, it's really remarkable.

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My favorite part of the letter, it's toward the end.

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He says that we have just destroyed a 64-gun British man of worship and a 20-gun British man of worship.

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Now, this is one of my favorite things to point out because at that time, we did not have an American Navy.

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We're building an army.

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We don't have a Navy yet.

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We start building a Navy, but at this point, we did have businessmen,

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and they had ships because we're using it for trade and various things.

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But we didn't have a Navy.

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We're going up against actual military naval vessels of the British.

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So what we did is we took whatever boats we could find, we put cannons on them,

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and we would use those cannons to fight back against the British Navy.

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One of the original boats of the American Navy is at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

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It's in Washington, D.C.

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It's up on the third floor.

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It's called the Gunboat Philadelphia.

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That's the Gunboat Philadelphia.

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Okay.

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John Adams says, we just destroyed a 64 gun.

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That's a ship with 64 cannons.

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We destroyed a 64-gun British man of worship and a 20-gun British man of worship.

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My question is, how?

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00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,540
Like, did you row really fast in their direction?

233
00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,280
Because it makes no sense, but that was the point.

234
00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:05,480
It didn't make sense, right?

235
00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:10,580
What we were doing, and John Adams, in 1777, he writes another letter to Abigail and says,

236
00:13:10,580 --> 00:13:13,980
Abigail, I was eating dinner tonight, and there were men at a table.

237
00:13:13,980 --> 00:13:17,240
They were eating dinner behind me, and they were discussing all the stuff that was happening,

238
00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:21,840
and they were trying to figure out the best explanation for what's going on.

239
00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,940
And one of the men said something adamantly like, this is the answer.

240
00:13:25,940 --> 00:13:29,260
He said, I think it actually is the best explanation we've heard up to this point.

241
00:13:29,260 --> 00:13:30,680
Here was the explanation.

242
00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:35,380
It appears to me the eternal Son of God is operating powerfully against the British nation.

243
00:13:35,380 --> 00:13:37,500
Right?

244
00:13:37,500 --> 00:13:38,640
They're like, how is this happening?

245
00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:39,860
And the guy's like, oh, I know.

246
00:13:39,860 --> 00:13:41,300
It's Jesus.

247
00:13:41,300 --> 00:13:42,700
Right?

248
00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:46,560
Like, that's the only explanation is clearly God is helping.

249
00:13:46,560 --> 00:13:46,840
Right?

250
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:48,020
It's the only thing that makes sense.

251
00:13:48,020 --> 00:13:51,260
There's no other way like rowboats are taking out naval vessels.

252
00:13:51,260 --> 00:13:52,240
It doesn't make sense.

253
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,160
But they begin to recognize.

254
00:13:54,160 --> 00:14:03,360
And also, let's point out, when they're writing this, it's 7077, and the men are discussing all of the ways they're seeing God's intervention.

255
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:11,320
Well, if we look back in history, it's really sad how few of the stories we know, how few of the stories are covered.

256
00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:17,760
And even sometimes some of the stories that we might find to some extent online, it doesn't give the full depth.

257
00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:24,900
But when you start to learn the stories, you realize God really showed up all the time for these guys in amazing ways.

258
00:14:24,900 --> 00:14:25,640
Just to give you an example.

259
00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:26,880
Let's back up 1776.

260
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,860
After you have the declaration, less than two months later, you have the Battle of Long Island.

261
00:14:30,860 --> 00:14:34,240
The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn Heights.

262
00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,860
This is where, as the British have landed in force, there's more than 30,000 British troops.

263
00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:44,380
They pin about 9,000 of the Americans, George Washington being one of them, up in New York.

264
00:14:44,380 --> 00:14:45,300
They're on the island.

265
00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:46,820
They're pinned against a river.

266
00:14:46,820 --> 00:14:50,360
And this is back when there's a single-shot musket, right?

267
00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,580
So it doesn't matter how special you think you might be.

268
00:14:53,580 --> 00:14:54,060
No, no, no.

269
00:14:54,060 --> 00:14:55,780
You're pinned against a river.

270
00:14:55,780 --> 00:14:56,840
You are surrounded.

271
00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:58,700
You're outgunned three to one.

272
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,480
Numbers really made a difference back then.

273
00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:05,840
And to make matters worse, as they are pinned, kind of just waiting to see what the British are going to do,

274
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:11,340
they're trying to dig in and entrench themselves, the British fleet begins sailing up the river behind them.

275
00:15:11,340 --> 00:15:15,400
Well, as soon as the fleet comes up behind you, now you're fully encircled, right?

276
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:15,960
You're surrounded.

277
00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:16,780
You're in the crossfire.

278
00:15:16,780 --> 00:15:17,360
You're done.

279
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:19,240
They know they're going to be captured.

280
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:20,020
They're going to be killed.

281
00:15:20,020 --> 00:15:21,340
Something bad's going to happen.

282
00:15:21,340 --> 00:15:25,000
But this is where the first of the unlikely events starts to unfold.

283
00:15:25,420 --> 00:15:29,060
As the British fleet begins sailing up the river, it was a clear, sunny day.

284
00:15:29,060 --> 00:15:33,340
And out of nowhere, a massive storm rolls in.

285
00:15:33,340 --> 00:15:39,900
And the storm was so big, the wind was blowing the boats back down the river into the harbor.

286
00:15:39,900 --> 00:15:44,660
Actually, some of the British naval officers reported that as they're calling a retreat,

287
00:15:44,660 --> 00:15:47,760
they were so afraid their boats were going to be blown ashore into rocks.

288
00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:49,400
And so they call a full retreat.

289
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:53,600
Well, Washington, right, obviously he knows a storm's going on,

290
00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,260
but he recognizes as soon as the storm calms, they're just going to sail their boats right back up.

291
00:15:58,260 --> 00:15:59,160
We're going to be trapped again.

292
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,540
So he said, we have to get off this island tonight.

293
00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:06,780
So he called a meeting, gets officers together, says, you need to go find anything that floats.

294
00:16:06,780 --> 00:16:08,100
And we're getting off this island.

295
00:16:08,100 --> 00:16:12,020
Now, this is also important because back then, most Americans did not know how to swim.

296
00:16:12,020 --> 00:16:13,700
It was not something we really taught.

297
00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:14,640
It wasn't a leisure activity.

298
00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:17,940
And to make matters worse, it's about a mile wide.

299
00:16:17,940 --> 00:16:22,640
So even if you can swim, swimming a mile river is not going to be an easy thing to do.

300
00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:28,600
Well, as they're navigating this, they go and they find flat bottom boats and they find John boats and they find canoes.

301
00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,840
But there's only so many people you can fit on a canoe at a time.

302
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,780
And you got a mile across and a mile back.

303
00:16:34,780 --> 00:16:38,580
And so they're doing this all night, across and back, across and back.

304
00:16:38,580 --> 00:16:39,880
And they had 9,000 people.

305
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:45,260
Well, as the night is ending, there's more than 1,000 troops left on the island.

306
00:16:45,260 --> 00:16:47,000
Washington being one of them, by the way.

307
00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,600
Washington had determined he's going to be the last one off the island.

308
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:52,360
And you can imagine some of his officers were like, sir, we got to get you off.

309
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,560
And he said, no, I'm not going to abandon my men.

310
00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,380
I'm going to make sure my men are okay.

311
00:16:57,380 --> 00:16:58,300
And then I'm going to go.

312
00:16:58,300 --> 00:17:02,080
It's just the kind of leader he was, which is why he was such a beloved leader from his troops.

313
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:03,400
He's going to be the last one.

314
00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:07,480
Well, now, as soon as the sun rises, the British are going to see what they're doing.

315
00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:09,960
There's now 30,000 against 1,000.

316
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:11,200
They're going to advance.

317
00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:12,720
For sure, they're all going to be captured.

318
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:13,420
They're going to be killed.

319
00:17:13,420 --> 00:17:14,840
Washington's going to be hung for treason.

320
00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:16,300
This is not going to be good.

321
00:17:16,300 --> 00:17:20,460
Except before the light of dawn appeared, something else unusual happened.

322
00:17:20,460 --> 00:17:22,660
There was a fog that lifted off the river.

323
00:17:22,660 --> 00:17:23,620
Now, that's not unusual.

324
00:17:23,620 --> 00:17:27,640
Except the fog blew, and it settled between both encampments.

325
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,000
One of the guys who was there was Major Benjamin Talmadge.

326
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,540
He was the guy that went on to become the head of what was known as a Culper spy ring,

327
00:17:33,540 --> 00:17:35,200
one of the more famous spy rings of the Revolution.

328
00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,920
But here's what he described from that morning.

329
00:17:37,920 --> 00:17:38,700
He said,

330
00:17:38,700 --> 00:17:43,360
A very dense fog began to rise, and it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner over both encampments.

331
00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:46,720
I recollect this peculiar providential occurrence perfectly well,

332
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:51,400
and so very dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance.

333
00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,600
So from me to the front row, he's like, you couldn't even see people.

334
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:57,340
The fog was too thick.

335
00:17:57,340 --> 00:18:05,160
The fog stays between both encampments until the last three little boats are loaded.

336
00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,640
They get to the middle of the river, and the fog lifts.

337
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,000
The British look and realize the camp is empty.

338
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,520
They charge the camp.

339
00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:18,800
The British reported they saw the last three boats arrive on the other side of the river

340
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:22,340
where the Americans unloaded, and they had lived to fight another day.

341
00:18:22,340 --> 00:18:30,460
Now, God did not give them the victory, but God kept them alive to keep going in the midst of the situation.

342
00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:35,300
And if you are someone familiar with Scripture, I'm going to give you several of these moments.

343
00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:41,000
I just want to point out there's a lot of biblical similarities in some of these miracles, right?

344
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,260
Like if you don't remember Moses, Israelites, Red Sea, Pharaoh's army,

345
00:18:44,260 --> 00:18:48,280
there's some interesting similarities in this one in my mind,

346
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:52,140
but there's some that get even closer to other stories as we go.

347
00:18:52,140 --> 00:18:55,100
Well, as you keep going, when you get to the end of that year,

348
00:18:55,100 --> 00:18:57,840
the Americans largely have done nothing but lose all year long.

349
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,600
In fact, starting from where we were, the Battle of Long Island,

350
00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,600
they lose in the Battle of Kips Bay, they lose the Battle of White Plains,

351
00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:06,840
they lose the Battle of Fort Washington, they lose the Battle of Fort Lee,

352
00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,000
they really lose all of New York.

353
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,080
So this whole campaign, all they've done is lose all year long.

354
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:12,820
Why does that matter?

355
00:19:12,820 --> 00:19:15,320
Because back then, it was one-year enlistments.

356
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:19,460
If you're in the Continental Army, every enlistment was up December 31st,

357
00:19:19,460 --> 00:19:20,320
and you had to re-enlist.

358
00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,900
And it didn't matter if you joined in January or May.

359
00:19:22,900 --> 00:19:25,700
Every enlistment ended December 31st.

360
00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,800
Well, if you're George Washington, and you're trying to get people to sign up for round two,

361
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,040
and all you've done is lose all year long,

362
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:37,320
this is like, so I'm from Texas, the Dallas 4th area.

363
00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,840
This would be like me trying to convince you to cheer for the Dallas Cowboys, right?

364
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:43,800
And I'm like, guys, no, this is our year.

365
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:44,400
We're going to do it.

366
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:45,540
We're going to take them this time.

367
00:19:45,540 --> 00:19:47,640
You're like, you're an idiot, right?

368
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:48,760
Like, there's no way.

369
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:49,760
Okay.

370
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:51,940
This is George Washington's dilemma.

371
00:19:51,940 --> 00:19:56,280
Now, to give you even some more context, at this point, morale's at an all-time low.

372
00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,240
Because again, all they've done is lose.

373
00:19:58,240 --> 00:19:59,520
We haven't really trained.

374
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:00,400
We haven't developed.

375
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:01,920
We haven't gotten good yet.

376
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,220
And he's trying to get people to sign back up.

377
00:20:04,220 --> 00:20:05,780
They're already having people desert.

378
00:20:05,780 --> 00:20:09,420
And maybe even kind of logically so,

379
00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:13,720
because they're realizing that I'm in a place in winter quarters

380
00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:15,460
where we don't have enough food.

381
00:20:15,460 --> 00:20:16,300
We don't have enough fuel.

382
00:20:16,300 --> 00:20:18,840
I've got a home and a family, a wife and kids.

383
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:19,980
What am I doing here?

384
00:20:19,980 --> 00:20:21,620
And so people are already deserting.

385
00:20:21,620 --> 00:20:24,600
And then, as he's trying to get people to re-enlist,

386
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,140
nobody wants to re-enlist for round two.

387
00:20:27,140 --> 00:20:30,500
So he realizes we're going to have to have a victory.

388
00:20:30,500 --> 00:20:34,380
We're going to have to have something to put a good taste in the mouth of people to go,

389
00:20:34,380 --> 00:20:35,740
hey, wait a second, maybe there's hope.

390
00:20:35,740 --> 00:20:36,800
Maybe we can do this.

391
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,400
And his idea, you will know the story as we get there,

392
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,420
was on Christmas night, they were going to sail on Trenton

393
00:20:44,420 --> 00:20:46,980
and march on Trenton, excuse me, across the Delaware,

394
00:20:46,980 --> 00:20:49,680
which is not really sailing, but across the Delaware, march on Trenton.

395
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,360
And the idea was that they thought at Trenton,

396
00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,900
there was between 1,200 and 1,500 Hessian troops,

397
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:57,420
which are German mercenaries hired by the British to fight the Americans.

398
00:20:57,420 --> 00:21:01,140
And Washington thought, we'll bring this overwhelming superior force.

399
00:21:01,140 --> 00:21:03,540
He was going to bring three armies from his side of Delaware.

400
00:21:03,540 --> 00:21:05,420
He's going to have a fourth army come down from the north.

401
00:21:05,420 --> 00:21:08,020
There's going to be 7,000 or 8,000 people against 1,200 to 1,500.

402
00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:09,640
Overwhelming numbers.

403
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:10,420
We're going to have a victory.

404
00:21:10,420 --> 00:21:11,320
This is going to be awesome.

405
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,180
Well, part of why he chose Christmas night,

406
00:21:15,180 --> 00:21:16,740
also to give you some historical context,

407
00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:21,320
Christmas was an illegal holiday in America up until almost a civil war.

408
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,380
Now, the reason it was illegal is because over in Europe,

409
00:21:27,380 --> 00:21:32,040
there was a lot of people that had taken what were formerly religious holidays

410
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:36,180
or holidays after some very religious individuals or significant moments,

411
00:21:36,180 --> 00:21:39,860
and they had commercialized them in many ways

412
00:21:39,860 --> 00:21:42,820
and actually led to a lot of debauchery on some of them.

413
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:47,480
And when the pilgrims come, they've seen what was happening with Christmas over in Europe.

414
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,240
When the Puritans came, and you can go down the list,

415
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,240
it literally wasn't until the Civil War that Christmas was a holiday celebrated.

416
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,560
But part of why that matters is because the Hessians are from Germany.

417
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,780
And if there's a night we're going to have a celebration, right?

418
00:21:59,780 --> 00:22:01,920
There is going to be a special celebration.

419
00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,920
Washington and his brilliance is like,

420
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:06,600
okay, if we need a victory, here's my idea.

421
00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:12,780
Let's wait until they're drunk, maybe unconscious, and let's go.

422
00:22:12,780 --> 00:22:15,420
That's not a bad military strategy, right?

423
00:22:15,420 --> 00:22:17,880
If you had to pick a fight with somebody, they're unconscious on the ground,

424
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:19,400
you've got a better chance, okay?

425
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,660
He's literally saying, let's march on Trenton.

426
00:22:22,660 --> 00:22:25,060
And as they march on Trenton,

427
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,080
Trenton was one of the closest forts to where they were for their winter quarters.

428
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,420
They thought they could bring this overwhelming force.

429
00:22:30,420 --> 00:22:31,460
And so they get ready.

430
00:22:31,460 --> 00:22:34,880
The idea, again, of that night, they're going to cross to Delaware.

431
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,840
And so Washington is getting things ready.

432
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:38,900
He gets everything in order.

433
00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:40,520
And they begin the midnight crossing.

434
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:43,900
The guy who was there with them at the crossing where they actually got across

435
00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:44,880
was General Henry Knox.

436
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,100
I'm going to come back to him in just a minute.

437
00:22:46,100 --> 00:22:48,120
But as they work the crossing,

438
00:22:48,120 --> 00:22:50,940
where they were with their three armies going across,

439
00:22:50,940 --> 00:22:52,200
there's 5,400 troops.

440
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,740
They're taking cannons and horses.

441
00:22:54,300 --> 00:22:56,940
And their goal is to be across by midnight.

442
00:22:56,940 --> 00:23:00,040
Well, the three armies are crossing in three different locations.

443
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,060
Washington did not know at the time,

444
00:23:03,060 --> 00:23:06,220
but in two of the locations, they couldn't get anybody across.

445
00:23:06,220 --> 00:23:08,420
The fog was so thick, they couldn't see the other side.

446
00:23:08,420 --> 00:23:10,640
The ice chunks were so thick coming down

447
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:13,360
that they couldn't get boats to make it to the other side

448
00:23:13,360 --> 00:23:14,820
because the ice was pushing them downstream.

449
00:23:14,820 --> 00:23:15,680
It was so thick.

450
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,020
And the only place anybody got across was a crossing where Washington was.

451
00:23:20,020 --> 00:23:21,720
But even where Washington was,

452
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,500
they were so delayed because of the bad weather

453
00:23:24,500 --> 00:23:27,840
that they actually only get 2,400 troops across

454
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,180
and they don't even get across till 4 a.m.

455
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,620
They were supposed to be across by midnight.

456
00:23:32,620 --> 00:23:34,280
Now they're four hours behind schedule.

457
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,980
And the reason it matters is because they have still a nine-mile march

458
00:23:38,980 --> 00:23:43,260
and they wanted to be set up surrounding the fort before the first light of dawn.

459
00:23:43,260 --> 00:23:46,300
That way, when light comes, the Hessians go,

460
00:23:46,300 --> 00:23:47,920
oh my gosh, we're surrounded, right?

461
00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,420
And this is part of the advantage.

462
00:23:49,420 --> 00:23:50,620
Well, they get across.

463
00:23:50,620 --> 00:23:51,420
They're super delayed.

464
00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:52,600
Only 2,400 troops.

465
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,220
And then Washington looks and says, where's everybody else?

466
00:23:55,220 --> 00:23:57,000
And he gets word, nobody else made it.

467
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,220
In fact, not even the army from the north was going to make it.

468
00:24:00,220 --> 00:24:01,340
It's just us.

469
00:24:01,340 --> 00:24:04,240
Well, they still have 2,400 against 12 to 1,500.

470
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,300
So they still have a superior force numerically.

471
00:24:07,300 --> 00:24:09,700
But Washington knows we have to have a victory

472
00:24:09,700 --> 00:24:11,880
or the whole cause might be lost.

473
00:24:11,880 --> 00:24:12,940
So we're going either way.

474
00:24:12,940 --> 00:24:14,960
So they continue marching that night.

475
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,580
Well, as I mentioned, they have a nine-mile march as they're going.

476
00:24:18,580 --> 00:24:21,280
And to make matters worse, during their nine-mile march,

477
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,260
a blizzard rolls in on them.

478
00:24:23,260 --> 00:24:26,760
And just also to give you some historic context,

479
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,280
when you joined the militia back then,

480
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:30,420
you were given a uniform.

481
00:24:30,420 --> 00:24:32,880
And that was the uniform you had.

482
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,840
They didn't give you winter gear.

483
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,200
If you joined in March, whatever you had,

484
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,520
if you'd worn holes in it, you had holes in your uniform.

485
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:41,700
That's just the way it was.

486
00:24:41,700 --> 00:24:45,240
At the time of winter, even the British, at this point,

487
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,240
the British are already reporting

488
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,500
they could track the movement of the American soldiers

489
00:24:50,500 --> 00:24:53,280
during wintertime by their bloody footprints in the snow

490
00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:55,600
because many of them had already worn through their boots,

491
00:24:55,700 --> 00:24:58,200
didn't have shoes, didn't have the winter gear.

492
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,380
In fact, during this brutal storm as they're going,

493
00:25:01,380 --> 00:25:03,300
two men actually froze to death.

494
00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:05,880
And there's not a lot of great historic records

495
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:07,040
surrounding the details.

496
00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,140
I can only imagine, right, as they're in the middle of marching.

497
00:25:10,140 --> 00:25:11,460
If you don't have winter gear on, you're like,

498
00:25:11,460 --> 00:25:13,140
guys, I just need to sit down for a second.

499
00:25:13,140 --> 00:25:17,200
You sit down in a blizzard, and you're not dressed appropriately.

500
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,640
Like, that's probably why they didn't get back up.

501
00:25:20,220 --> 00:25:22,500
Well, two men froze to death during this march.

502
00:25:22,500 --> 00:25:26,160
But what they also did not take into consideration at that moment,

503
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,360
as I can only imagine feeling like,

504
00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:29,940
God, why have you forsaken me?

505
00:25:29,940 --> 00:25:32,220
Well, as they are taking this march,

506
00:25:32,220 --> 00:25:34,220
the storm is also at Trenton.

507
00:25:34,220 --> 00:25:36,520
And the guards on duty, the sentries,

508
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:38,120
they go to their CO, their commanding officer,

509
00:25:38,120 --> 00:25:41,320
and say, sir, surely nobody's crazy enough

510
00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:43,700
to be out marching and doing things in this kind of weather.

511
00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,460
Can we please come in and stay warm by their fire?

512
00:25:46,460 --> 00:25:47,520
And their officer agreed.

513
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:49,000
He said, yeah, you're right.

514
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,100
Nobody's doing anything.

515
00:25:50,100 --> 00:25:51,300
You guys come in and stay warm.

516
00:25:51,300 --> 00:25:54,840
So the Americans are never going to arrive before sunrise.

517
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,080
But now there are literally no guards on duty.

518
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,660
There's not a single century watching the roads,

519
00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:02,440
watching the fort.

520
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,780
So the Americans are able to arrive with nobody on duty.

521
00:26:06,780 --> 00:26:07,860
They get there.

522
00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:09,100
They're in position by 8 a.m.

523
00:26:09,100 --> 00:26:10,440
When they announce themselves,

524
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:13,860
it is a complete surprise to the Hessians.

525
00:26:13,860 --> 00:26:17,180
And just to be very clear on this,

526
00:26:17,180 --> 00:26:19,060
the Hessians are inside the fort.

527
00:26:19,060 --> 00:26:20,980
That's an entrenched position.

528
00:26:20,980 --> 00:26:22,560
They have food.

529
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:23,600
They have water.

530
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:24,660
They have ammo.

531
00:26:24,660 --> 00:26:26,400
This is all important.

532
00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,260
When the battle unfolds,

533
00:26:29,260 --> 00:26:33,940
the Hessians freak out and they abandoned the fort.

534
00:26:33,940 --> 00:26:38,560
Why does this matter?

535
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,200
Because the battle lasted only 35 minutes.

536
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,620
They were in an entrenched position.

537
00:26:45,620 --> 00:26:47,480
Historians have reflected on this.

538
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:52,080
And they thought, well, maybe the Hessians like didn't see all of the American forces lined up.

539
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:53,300
And they thought they'd come out and flank them.

540
00:26:53,300 --> 00:26:56,780
And instead they came out and ran right into the lines of muskets.

541
00:26:56,780 --> 00:27:00,320
And in 35 minutes, this whole thing is called.

542
00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,840
And at the end of this 35 minute battle, the results were.

543
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:05,680
Now remember, the Hessians are on team British.

544
00:27:05,780 --> 00:27:07,940
They're German mercenaries, but they're fighting for the British.

545
00:27:07,940 --> 00:27:13,240
On the British side, there was approximately 20 killed, 100 wounded, and 1,000 captured.

546
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,260
On the American side, there were three wounded.

547
00:27:17,260 --> 00:27:18,860
Period.

548
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:24,000
And this is when they're like, well, that went so much better than we thought it was going to.

549
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:24,840
Right?

550
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:26,020
Like, this was incredible.

551
00:27:26,020 --> 00:27:27,720
It gets even more interesting.

552
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:33,860
Because of the three that were wounded, only one of them had what would be considered potential fatal injury.

553
00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:37,860
But he was a young officer in a small detachment.

554
00:27:37,860 --> 00:27:47,680
When they're marching into Trenton, Washington says, okay, we need these small detachments to go guard the road to make sure that no British loyalists can go alert the British what we're doing so the British can't send reinforcements.

555
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,740
So go to the edge of town, guard the roads.

556
00:27:49,740 --> 00:27:51,460
And so this small detachment is going.

557
00:27:51,460 --> 00:27:56,480
As they are passing by one of the townhouses, there is a dog that begins barking.

558
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,180
And a man comes to the door.

559
00:27:58,180 --> 00:27:58,860
He's got a musket.

560
00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:00,440
Wants to know what's going on.

561
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:01,860
And they said, sir, we mean you no harm.

562
00:28:01,860 --> 00:28:03,500
We're part of the Continental Army.

563
00:28:03,500 --> 00:28:05,220
We're making a move on Trenton.

564
00:28:05,220 --> 00:28:06,220
But you stay in your house.

565
00:28:06,220 --> 00:28:07,020
No harm will come to you.

566
00:28:07,020 --> 00:28:07,620
And he says, no, no, no.

567
00:28:07,620 --> 00:28:08,000
Hang on.

568
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:10,340
I'm team patriot.

569
00:28:10,340 --> 00:28:13,020
And if you're making a move, I want to come.

570
00:28:13,020 --> 00:28:14,840
He says, I am a doctor.

571
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,640
And some poor fellow may need my assistance.

572
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:18,920
His name was Dr. John Riker.

573
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:20,220
He got his medical kit.

574
00:28:20,220 --> 00:28:21,400
He joins a small detachment.

575
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:26,860
Well, when the fighting starts, the small detachment now is going to go rejoin.

576
00:28:26,860 --> 00:28:31,120
And as they go to rejoin, this young officer gets shot in the shoulder.

577
00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:33,040
The ball goes into his chest.

578
00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:33,800
It nicks an artery.

579
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:35,340
And he's like bleeding out.

580
00:28:35,340 --> 00:28:36,360
He ain't going to make it.

581
00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:43,040
Except the guy standing right beside him is the doctor who puts his finger in the hole to slow the bleeding.

582
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,040
Like literally the doctor saves his guy's life.

583
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:55,120
Now, part of why this is even kind of significant is because this young officer went on to become a pretty significant guy in American history.

584
00:28:55,340 --> 00:28:59,640
If you've ever seen the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware, he's the guy standing behind George Washington.

585
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:01,060
That's a known individual.

586
00:29:01,060 --> 00:29:02,880
All the people in that painting were known individuals.

587
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:08,060
But this known individual was so well known, he went on to become the fifth president of the United States.

588
00:29:08,060 --> 00:29:09,020
His name was James Monroe.

589
00:29:09,020 --> 00:29:10,860
Okay.

590
00:29:11,820 --> 00:29:13,760
There's so many things about this, right?

591
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,020
Because you look back and they had to be thinking, okay, so like we were never going to make it in time.

592
00:29:17,020 --> 00:29:18,040
But then a blizzard coming.

593
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:18,580
It wasn't fun.

594
00:29:18,580 --> 00:29:21,040
But then like it took the centuries off duty.

595
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:22,280
And we announced ourselves.

596
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:23,300
And they abandoned their fort.

597
00:29:23,300 --> 00:29:24,080
Why would they do that?

598
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,500
And like we only had one guy fatally wounded.

599
00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:31,120
But he was totally fine because the one dog that barked that night was a dog at the doctor's house.

600
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:33,740
And the doctor came and joined and was standing right beside him when he got shot and put his finger in the hole.

601
00:29:33,740 --> 00:29:34,500
I'm like, this is crazy.

602
00:29:36,980 --> 00:29:39,860
And they recognized, you know, I think God's helping us.

603
00:29:39,860 --> 00:29:44,180
I just, I feel like God's on our side in this.

604
00:29:44,180 --> 00:29:46,360
This is what they determined.

605
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:49,140
In fact, the people who were there, George Washington wrote about it.

606
00:29:49,140 --> 00:29:52,120
And he talked about how providence had given them total victory.

607
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,600
The guy I mentioned earlier, General Henry Knox.

608
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,900
This is what he wrote about that experience.

609
00:29:56,900 --> 00:30:02,280
He said, the hurry, fright, and confusion of the enemy was not unlike that which will be when the last trump will sound.

610
00:30:02,280 --> 00:30:03,380
Right?

611
00:30:03,380 --> 00:30:03,980
Which is interesting.

612
00:30:03,980 --> 00:30:05,520
Like return of Christ, chaotic.

613
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:06,300
Nobody else is going on.

614
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:07,380
He's like, that's how it felt.

615
00:30:07,380 --> 00:30:08,860
Like they didn't know what's happening.

616
00:30:08,860 --> 00:30:09,520
It was crazy.

617
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,500
He continued, providence seemed to have smiled upon every part of this enterprise.

618
00:30:13,500 --> 00:30:18,260
Everybody who was there and wrote about it wrote about how God had helped them in that moment.

619
00:30:18,260 --> 00:30:23,880
Now, part of why this matters is because today we often look back from a different historic lens.

620
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:26,160
And we don't acknowledge the God side.

621
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:32,740
And yet when you read the writings of the people who were there, everybody who wrote about it said God helped them in this situation.

622
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,920
This is the faith aspect that has been largely left out of our history.

623
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:41,900
In fact, if you go to just about a year and a half later, George Washington, Battle of Monmouth.

624
00:30:41,900 --> 00:30:44,280
He writes General Thomas Nelson Jr. a letter.

625
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:50,420
And he's talking about how it's so obvious God's been helping us this whole way in this revolution.

626
00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:54,880
Here's part of what he writes to his friend from Virginia.

627
00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:55,800
He says,

628
00:30:55,800 --> 00:31:17,920
Now, he's telling his friend, General Thomas Nelson Jr., if people see all this, if they know the story and they can't acknowledge God, they must be worse than a non-believer or they must be wicked.

629
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,940
To not be able to acknowledge what God has done, well, his next line is my favorite.

630
00:31:21,940 --> 00:31:22,840
He said,

631
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:29,580
But it will be time enough for me to turn preacher when my present appointment ceases, and therefore I shall add no more on the doctrine of providence.

632
00:31:29,580 --> 00:31:33,580
George Washington was like, I've seen enough miracles, I can become a pastor.

633
00:31:33,580 --> 00:31:36,240
But for right now, I'm going to try to win this war.

634
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:36,920
Right?

635
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:38,700
Like, this is the sentiment.

636
00:31:38,700 --> 00:31:40,420
And let's also be clear.

637
00:31:40,420 --> 00:31:50,700
When George Washington says, like, God's hand is so obvious in this, if there were anybody in American history, anybody, that knew about God's hand in war, it would have been George Washington.

638
00:31:50,700 --> 00:31:51,500
Okay?

639
00:31:51,500 --> 00:31:55,960
If you don't know his story, let me just back you up real quick to give you some background thoughts on this.

640
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,380
George Washington came to fame during the French and Indian War.

641
00:31:58,380 --> 00:32:01,820
He was a young 23-year-old colonel, 70, 55.

642
00:32:01,820 --> 00:32:05,120
This is when the Americans are still part of the British Empire.

643
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:09,400
And the British and French are fighting for control over the Ohio Valley Territory.

644
00:32:10,040 --> 00:32:15,640
The British send in General Edward Braddock, kind of like their big dog guy who's going to come drive the French off.

645
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,860
And the British had overwhelming force.

646
00:32:17,860 --> 00:32:24,160
Well, George Washington, as they are going, he tells them, hey, General Braddock, you're kind of new here.

647
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:30,220
The French and Indians don't really fight the way you've done open theater warfare over in Europe.

648
00:32:30,220 --> 00:32:34,600
And General Braddock says, we don't need any of your help.

649
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:36,400
Our force is too big.

650
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,660
Well, he leads his men in a valley.

651
00:32:38,660 --> 00:32:44,600
And they're ambushed by a much smaller, much, much smaller force of Indians and French.

652
00:32:44,700 --> 00:32:48,260
And when they're ambushed, he did what they do in European theater.

653
00:32:48,260 --> 00:32:53,540
He told all his men to come shoulder to shoulder to line up in the valley and point toward the woods.

654
00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:55,700
Well, the French and Indians were hiding behind trees.

655
00:32:55,700 --> 00:32:58,100
And now you've just put everybody in.

656
00:32:58,100 --> 00:32:59,540
You don't even have to aim.

657
00:32:59,540 --> 00:33:00,680
Like, just point and pull a trigger.

658
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:01,240
You're good.

659
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,620
It's crazy.

660
00:33:02,620 --> 00:33:09,220
During this battle, every single officer was shot down off horseback and killed.

661
00:33:09,220 --> 00:33:11,760
And actually, when General Braddock was finally killed,

662
00:33:12,100 --> 00:33:15,860
George Washington was the last surviving officer, mounted officer on horseback.

663
00:33:15,860 --> 00:33:17,720
And so he assumed command.

664
00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,140
And when he assumed command, he realized what we're doing right now is crazy.

665
00:33:21,140 --> 00:33:23,520
Well, General Braddock, he's wounded.

666
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:24,320
He's not dead yet.

667
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:25,520
But he sees Washington take over.

668
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:26,600
Washington calls a retreat.

669
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:33,900
And as they get out, Washington realizes what we've done is dumb on so many levels.

670
00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:40,120
Their line coming in was about four miles long because they had troops and then their supply wagons.

671
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:41,220
They had various things spaced out.

672
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:42,300
And so they start to retreat.

673
00:33:42,300 --> 00:33:47,440
But as they're retreating, men are, like, throwing cannons and guns and just leaving everything, running for their life.

674
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:48,000
They're scared.

675
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,340
And Washington is trying to gather things and keep things collected.

676
00:33:51,340 --> 00:33:56,240
But as he ends up leaving, he gets back to the fort and it's several days later.

677
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,200
And men have already, like, just booked it.

678
00:33:58,200 --> 00:33:59,400
They got there that same day.

679
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,080
And they gave word every single officer, mounted officer, was killed during that battle.

680
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:05,700
Well, that's true except for George Washington.

681
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,480
But he gets back to the fort and finds out word's gone out.

682
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,660
And he finds out that his mom's already been informed he's dead.

683
00:34:11,660 --> 00:34:13,920
So he's got to write his mom a letter.

684
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,760
And he's like, Mom, the rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated, right?

685
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:18,300
Like, did not die.

686
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:21,260
But it's interesting what he writes her about that battle.

687
00:34:21,260 --> 00:34:22,320
He says,

688
00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:41,580
He got back to the fort and takes off his jacket.

689
00:34:41,580 --> 00:34:43,380
And he's like, well, where did that come from?

690
00:34:43,380 --> 00:34:45,580
There's four bullet holes now.

691
00:34:45,580 --> 00:34:47,820
It gets even more interesting in this story.

692
00:34:47,820 --> 00:34:50,160
Because obviously he's got to process this, right?

693
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:52,480
He knows the horses were shot off from under him.

694
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:56,160
But when you're wearing a jacket, and especially a military jacket back then,

695
00:34:56,160 --> 00:35:00,100
this is not like a big baggy winter coat with lots of space in the side.

696
00:35:00,100 --> 00:35:00,380
No, no.

697
00:35:00,380 --> 00:35:01,800
This is a pretty form-fitting jacket.

698
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:03,320
So this is kind of crazy.

699
00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,560
How did you get four bullet holes in your jacket and you're totally fine?

700
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:11,420
Well, the story continues because about 15 years later, which actually, first,

701
00:35:11,420 --> 00:35:15,820
the Reverend Samuel Davies was one of the more famous pastors from the First Great Awakening,

702
00:35:15,820 --> 00:35:17,200
the most famous pastor in Virginia.

703
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,800
And he actually had a sermon where he delivered.

704
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,060
It was on patriotism, the constituents of a good soldier.

705
00:35:23,060 --> 00:35:27,840
And he's talking about, there was a detachment of men about to be sent out.

706
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,880
And he's talking about God's thoughts on war and how to be a godly warrior,

707
00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,000
how to be a good soldier, et cetera, et cetera.

708
00:35:34,180 --> 00:35:39,400
But what's interesting about this is in this sermon, he actually has a section where he talks

709
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:41,120
about George Washington and what had just happened.

710
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:42,340
You see this asterisk at the bottom.

711
00:35:42,340 --> 00:35:46,740
He says, as a remarkable instance of this, and he's talking about God's protection over

712
00:35:46,740 --> 00:35:47,400
his people.

713
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:52,660
I may point out to the public that heroic young Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope

714
00:35:52,660 --> 00:35:56,960
providence has hitherto preserved, and so signal a manner for some important service to

715
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:57,440
his country.

716
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,200
Now, he's acknowledging, right, to see God protect somebody like this.

717
00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:07,740
He says, I just wonder, does God have something really special for this kid, right?

718
00:36:07,740 --> 00:36:09,380
Well, obviously, God did.

719
00:36:09,380 --> 00:36:10,740
And now, let me jump you forward.

720
00:36:10,740 --> 00:36:13,680
Fifteen years later, George Washington goes back.

721
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,420
He's in the same woods where he was early on, approximately.

722
00:36:16,420 --> 00:36:18,420
And one night, he's camping.

723
00:36:18,420 --> 00:36:20,160
Dr. William Craig is with him.

724
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,300
And they're approached by a group of Indians.

725
00:36:22,300 --> 00:36:23,520
And the group of Indians come forward.

726
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,460
And one of them, there's actually multiple chiefs, but one of the chiefs stepped forward

727
00:36:27,460 --> 00:36:28,300
and says, okay, you don't know me.

728
00:36:28,300 --> 00:36:31,220
But about 15 years ago, we were in these woods together.

729
00:36:31,220 --> 00:36:35,520
He said, we knew if we could kill the officers, we'd scatter the troops, and then we could kill

730
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:36,300
you all, no problem.

731
00:36:36,300 --> 00:36:43,220
He said, when you were the last officer, I told all my braves to fire at you, because I knew

732
00:36:43,220 --> 00:36:45,240
if we could kill you, we'd scatter the troops.

733
00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:48,500
Well, here's part of what he told Washington in this account.

734
00:36:48,500 --> 00:36:52,220
He says, I called to my young man and said, quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies.

735
00:36:52,220 --> 00:36:56,380
Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss.

736
00:36:56,380 --> 00:36:59,980
Twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded you.

737
00:36:59,980 --> 00:37:03,820
I am come to pay homage to the man who is a particular favorite of heaven and who can never

738
00:37:03,820 --> 00:37:04,680
die in battle.

739
00:37:04,680 --> 00:37:10,460
Another chief was talking to Dr. Craig.

740
00:37:10,460 --> 00:37:12,580
And Dr. Craig says, so why did you come?

741
00:37:12,580 --> 00:37:15,280
And this is what he tells the doctor of why he came.

742
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:17,840
He says, Washington was never born to be killed by a bullet.

743
00:37:18,140 --> 00:37:22,380
I had 17 fair fires at him with my rifle, and after all, could not bring him to the ground.

744
00:37:22,380 --> 00:37:26,460
In this, he continued to say, my rifle was known as a rifle that never missed.

745
00:37:26,460 --> 00:37:30,520
But after I couldn't bring him to the ground, I had to come meet this guy.

746
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:36,160
Well, now, part of the reason I even bring this up, Washington had multiple moments in his life

747
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:37,740
where he should have died and God protected him.

748
00:37:37,980 --> 00:37:41,300
And the reason that matters is because when he says, in the middle of the revolution,

749
00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:45,620
it's so clear that God is moving on our behalf, he would be the one to know that.

750
00:37:45,620 --> 00:37:50,300
And let me point out what the natives said about him at the time was, he was never born to be

751
00:37:50,300 --> 00:37:50,900
killed by a bullet.

752
00:37:50,900 --> 00:37:53,460
He would never die in battle, which, of course, he didn't.

753
00:37:53,460 --> 00:37:57,720
But if you go back to what the pastor said about him, Reverend Samuel Davies, and we do

754
00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:01,760
have this whole story in a book, all footnoted, documented, super cool story of George Washington.

755
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:06,480
But Reverend Samuel Davies, right, when he talked about when Providence has preserved

756
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:12,020
somebody in like this really special way, he said, I just wonder if it's for some important

757
00:38:12,020 --> 00:38:12,940
service to the country.

758
00:38:12,940 --> 00:38:18,620
Now, last year, there was a moment I was like, oh my gosh.

759
00:38:18,620 --> 00:38:21,300
Oh my gosh, right?

760
00:38:21,300 --> 00:38:25,440
But this is not a pro-Trump statement I'm making.

761
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:30,080
This is a recognizing God's hand in our life statement.

762
00:38:31,080 --> 00:38:36,440
Oftentimes, even in our everyday life, we don't recognize what the founding fathers talked

763
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:37,100
about so often.

764
00:38:37,100 --> 00:38:38,440
Look what God is doing.

765
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:42,640
And President Trump, even in his inaugural address, he said, I know that God saved me.

766
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,220
He does know that God saved him.

767
00:38:44,220 --> 00:38:46,640
It's so clear that God saved him, right?

768
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:50,460
You turned your head at just a moment, the bullet nicks your ear like absolutely God saved

769
00:38:50,460 --> 00:38:50,700
you.

770
00:38:50,700 --> 00:38:53,700
But this is part of the background, even of George Washington.

771
00:38:53,700 --> 00:38:56,840
What was so clear to them was, look what God is doing on our behalf.

772
00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,940
When the revolution finally comes to an end, these three guys signed the peace treaty,

773
00:39:01,020 --> 00:39:02,060
Paris, and ends the revolution.

774
00:39:02,060 --> 00:39:03,560
On the left is John Jay.

775
00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:04,500
In the middle is John Adams.

776
00:39:04,500 --> 00:39:05,640
On the right is Benjamin Franklin.

777
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:07,520
This is the peace treaty of Paris.

778
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:10,080
It's still on display in Washington, D.C.

779
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:11,560
It's at the State Department.

780
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,180
It's up on the sixth floor called the John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room.

781
00:39:14,180 --> 00:39:16,360
If you look on the left at the top, it says Article 10.

782
00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:17,680
Then you see there's signatures at the bottom.

783
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:19,040
The top one, David Hartley.

784
00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:19,960
He was a British ambassador.

785
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:21,980
Then you have John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay.

786
00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:25,360
This is the document that ended the American Revolution.

787
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:27,240
It brought peace between us and Great Britain.

788
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,620
And notice the title of this document.

789
00:39:29,620 --> 00:39:32,820
In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity.

790
00:39:32,820 --> 00:39:38,820
Do you know America became a nation in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

791
00:39:38,820 --> 00:39:41,960
Because that's what the holy undivided Trinity is.

792
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:46,820
Now, that's the weirdest title for a peace treaty document I've ever seen.

793
00:39:46,820 --> 00:39:47,920
I mean, genuinely.

794
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:49,380
Like, why would you do that?

795
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:52,960
Well, it's possible somebody had been reading Proverbs 3 that morning.

796
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:56,440
In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your steps.

797
00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:03,080
Well, they literally are acknowledging him on the top of the document that makes America a free, independent nation, which is remarkable.

798
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:08,520
And the reason I point all this out, I could spend literally days and weeks going through some of these stories,

799
00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:10,500
but I want to give you some understanding.

800
00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:13,260
When John Adams says, right, it was the principles of Christianity,

801
00:40:13,260 --> 00:40:18,020
this notion that Christianity was part of the foundation, the formation of our nation,

802
00:40:18,020 --> 00:40:23,400
it's completely correct from historic records and documents, from the people who were there.

803
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,820
And yet today, we just don't hear or see this very much.

804
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:32,360
But I do want to point out, this was not something that was controversial up until, like, a couple decades ago.

805
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:36,060
Because if you go back to people like Woodrow Wilson, who, if you don't know him,

806
00:40:36,060 --> 00:40:38,880
just know he was a really, really bad guy and not a good president, right?

807
00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,220
Like, just make that mental note.

808
00:40:40,220 --> 00:40:42,400
But Woodrow Wilson, he even acknowledged,

809
00:40:42,400 --> 00:40:44,660
America was born a Christian nation.

810
00:40:44,660 --> 00:40:48,080
America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness,

811
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,020
which are derived from the revelation of Holy Scripture.

812
00:40:50,020 --> 00:40:52,840
This is Woodrow Wilson saying, it's clear America is a Christian nation.

813
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:54,140
You have people like Richard Nixon.

814
00:40:54,140 --> 00:40:55,820
Now, Richard Nixon had his own set of problems.

815
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,820
But Richard Nixon, he even acknowledged, he said,

816
00:40:58,820 --> 00:41:02,100
let us remember that as a Christian nation, we have a charge and a destiny.

817
00:41:02,100 --> 00:41:03,180
Again, Christian nation.

818
00:41:03,180 --> 00:41:04,840
We can go to people like FDR.

819
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,900
He explained, in the formative days of the Republic,

820
00:41:07,900 --> 00:41:11,360
the directing influence the Bible exercised upon the fathers of the nation

821
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,100
is conspicuously evident, means it's obvious.

822
00:41:14,100 --> 00:41:17,600
It's so obvious our founding fathers were influenced by the Bible, he continued.

823
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:21,020
We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation

824
00:41:21,020 --> 00:41:25,900
without reckoning with the place the Bible is occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic.

825
00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:32,320
Now, what that means is, he says, you can't read history and not see how the Bible has shaped and impacted America.

826
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:39,080
Well, I think you could read almost any history book today and it will not show you how the Bible shaped and impacted America,

827
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:40,860
which does raise a question.

828
00:41:42,260 --> 00:41:46,640
What were they teaching back in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s that we're not teaching anymore today?

829
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:48,720
What are we leaving out?

830
00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:50,080
What story are we changing and different?

831
00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:51,200
Well, let me give you another example.

832
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,360
President Ronald Reagan, he explained,

833
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:57,120
Of the many influences that have shaped the United States of America into a distinctive nation and people,

834
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,440
none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.

835
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:01,260
Right?

836
00:42:01,260 --> 00:42:04,140
The Bible was a foundation of our nation, what we built on.

837
00:42:04,140 --> 00:42:05,320
In another speech, he said,

838
00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:07,100
if we ever forget that we're one nation under God,

839
00:42:07,100 --> 00:42:08,500
then we will be a nation gone under.

840
00:42:08,500 --> 00:42:10,260
You also have people like Andrew Jackson.

841
00:42:10,260 --> 00:42:12,340
Andrew Jackson, he explained,

842
00:42:12,340 --> 00:42:15,200
the Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.

843
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:17,920
Now, Andrew Jackson wasn't a Christian until toward the end of his life.

844
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,580
And even when he's not a Christian as president,

845
00:42:20,580 --> 00:42:22,820
he's acknowledging this is the foundation of our nation.

846
00:42:22,820 --> 00:42:28,180
I want to point out every single president in American history,

847
00:42:28,180 --> 00:42:32,700
every single one up until President Obama said America is a Christian nation.

848
00:42:32,700 --> 00:42:36,000
President Obama was the first one to say America is not a Christian nation

849
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:39,020
and actually encouraged that we should be less Christian than a nation.

850
00:42:39,020 --> 00:42:40,840
And I'm not trying to do political digs right now.

851
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:43,700
I'm just, historically, this didn't used to be controversial.

852
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:48,500
Every single president in most of our lifetime has said this.

853
00:42:48,500 --> 00:42:50,720
And part of the reason it matters is because

854
00:42:50,720 --> 00:42:53,360
when you have people, even like President Trump,

855
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:54,700
saying, let's make America great again,

856
00:42:54,700 --> 00:42:57,240
there's been a lot of great things about our nation.

857
00:42:57,240 --> 00:42:58,280
Now, it doesn't mean we haven't had problems.

858
00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,480
It doesn't mean we haven't had issues and things that we need to improve

859
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,060
and change and write course on some things.

860
00:43:03,060 --> 00:43:05,760
But if you're going to make America great again,

861
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:08,020
you can only make her great again if you know it made her great in the first place.

862
00:43:08,020 --> 00:43:10,860
And the foundation of our nation,

863
00:43:10,860 --> 00:43:12,220
see, if we go back to like George Washington,

864
00:43:12,620 --> 00:43:14,720
George Washington and his farewell address,

865
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:18,140
he was giving his final piece of advice to the American nation.

866
00:43:18,140 --> 00:43:22,300
And he's encouraging them on what he thinks it takes to be successful going forward.

867
00:43:22,300 --> 00:43:25,260
And actually, if you've never read his farewell address, you should.

868
00:43:25,260 --> 00:43:26,360
There's so many great things.

869
00:43:26,360 --> 00:43:28,660
He talks about avoid foreign entanglements,

870
00:43:28,660 --> 00:43:30,120
let other nations figure out their own problems.

871
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,180
We need to focus on making America a strong nation.

872
00:43:33,180 --> 00:43:34,260
He talks about avoiding debt,

873
00:43:34,260 --> 00:43:36,400
because if we let our political rulers load us with debt,

874
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:38,260
then we will be perpetual slaves.

875
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,400
He talks about that we need to love principle more than we love party,

876
00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:44,920
because the love of party would lead us to things that would be contrary to our principles.

877
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:46,220
Like so many good pieces of advice.

878
00:43:46,220 --> 00:43:49,920
But then he says something I think is maybe the most profound.

879
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:50,200
He says,

880
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,500
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity.

881
00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:55,080
Now, let me point out,

882
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:56,480
political prosperity,

883
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,600
that's national success.

884
00:43:58,600 --> 00:43:59,320
Okay?

885
00:43:59,320 --> 00:44:00,920
Of all the things you could do

886
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:02,860
that lead to national success,

887
00:44:02,860 --> 00:44:04,920
of all the things we could talk about that make a difference,

888
00:44:05,420 --> 00:44:05,820
he said,

889
00:44:05,820 --> 00:44:08,660
Religion and morality are indispensable supports.

890
00:44:08,660 --> 00:44:12,500
Only once in his farewell address did he say something was indispensable,

891
00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:13,760
meaning you can't do it without this.

892
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,500
The one thing he said you can't do it without is religion and morality.

893
00:44:17,500 --> 00:44:18,260
And to be clear,

894
00:44:18,260 --> 00:44:20,580
religion and morality was not like this vague,

895
00:44:20,580 --> 00:44:21,980
ambiguous term,

896
00:44:21,980 --> 00:44:22,800
and it's all religion.

897
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:24,180
No, religion was Christianity,

898
00:44:24,180 --> 00:44:28,600
and morality was derived from the teachings of Jesus and the Ten Commandments.

899
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:29,120
Right?

900
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:30,300
The teachings of the Bible.

901
00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:33,220
So what he's saying is without Christianity,

902
00:44:33,220 --> 00:44:34,000
without the Bible,

903
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,480
then this experiment is not going to work.

904
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:37,380
In fact, he said,

905
00:44:37,380 --> 00:44:39,820
In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism

906
00:44:39,820 --> 00:44:41,920
who should labor to subvert these great pillars.

907
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,840
Anybody that opposes Christianity in the Bible,

908
00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:46,400
they don't love America.

909
00:44:46,400 --> 00:44:48,280
Because that's what a patriot is.

910
00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:50,460
Now, that's not me saying this.

911
00:44:50,460 --> 00:44:53,120
That's what George Washington said in his farewell address.

912
00:44:53,120 --> 00:44:54,400
In fact, the following year,

913
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:55,360
John Adams became president.

914
00:44:55,940 --> 00:44:57,400
And then, the following year,

915
00:44:57,400 --> 00:44:59,860
John Adams wrote a letter to the militia of Massachusetts.

916
00:44:59,860 --> 00:45:01,020
And the whole letter is great.

917
00:45:01,020 --> 00:45:02,160
It's only like four or five paragraphs.

918
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:03,940
So much good content in there.

919
00:45:03,940 --> 00:45:06,480
But this is probably the more famous line from that letter.

920
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:07,360
He said,

921
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:10,300
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.

922
00:45:10,300 --> 00:45:12,420
It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

923
00:45:12,420 --> 00:45:16,260
Now, why is he saying this?

924
00:45:16,260 --> 00:45:17,420
Well, what he's acknowledging,

925
00:45:17,420 --> 00:45:18,520
like in America,

926
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,940
the American idea was freedom for the people.

927
00:45:20,940 --> 00:45:21,620
Right?

928
00:45:21,620 --> 00:45:24,120
That our elected officials,

929
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:25,080
our rulers,

930
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:26,620
they weren't going to be the dictators and tyrants

931
00:45:26,620 --> 00:45:27,580
telling us how to live and what.

932
00:45:27,580 --> 00:45:28,840
No, we were going to be free.

933
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:30,780
But they knew freedom only works

934
00:45:30,780 --> 00:45:32,420
if you have moral people.

935
00:45:32,420 --> 00:45:33,760
Because if you get freedom to immoral people,

936
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:35,560
it looks like Chicago every weekend.

937
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:36,060
Right?

938
00:45:36,060 --> 00:45:37,500
Like, that's not a good thing.

939
00:45:37,500 --> 00:45:39,420
And so, if freedom's going to work,

940
00:45:39,420 --> 00:45:40,240
you have to have a moral people.

941
00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:41,360
But you only have a moral people

942
00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:42,880
through a religious foundation.

943
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:43,540
Right?

944
00:45:43,540 --> 00:45:45,420
It's through Christianity that we learn right and wrong.

945
00:45:45,420 --> 00:45:47,360
And then, once we have the rights and wrongs,

946
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:48,360
freedom actually works.

947
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:50,320
This is why when people look,

948
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:51,000
even today,

949
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:52,520
and there's some people that talk about,

950
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,120
well, the Constitution is old and outdated.

951
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:55,700
And whatever criticism they're going to say,

952
00:45:55,700 --> 00:45:57,440
the problem is not with the Constitution.

953
00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,620
The problem is with a rejection

954
00:45:59,620 --> 00:46:01,920
of Christianity and the Bible and our culture.

955
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:05,800
The better we do following the Bible and Christianity,

956
00:46:05,800 --> 00:46:07,640
the better we will do as a nation.

957
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,740
And let me just give you one thought

958
00:46:09,740 --> 00:46:10,600
as well from the Bible.

959
00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:11,940
If you go to Jeremiah 29,

960
00:46:11,940 --> 00:46:15,480
probably most people are more familiar with verse 11.

961
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:17,100
For I know the plans I have for you,

962
00:46:17,100 --> 00:46:17,560
declares the Lord.

963
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:18,140
Plans to prosper,

964
00:46:18,140 --> 00:46:18,640
not to harm you,

965
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:19,400
give you hope in the future.

966
00:46:20,020 --> 00:46:20,300
Now,

967
00:46:20,300 --> 00:46:23,420
beyond the fact that I think that's often taken out of context,

968
00:46:23,420 --> 00:46:23,660
right?

969
00:46:23,660 --> 00:46:25,060
Put a pin on that one.

970
00:46:25,060 --> 00:46:28,940
If you back up to the beginning of that chapter,

971
00:46:28,940 --> 00:46:29,660
it's super interesting.

972
00:46:29,660 --> 00:46:30,900
Jeremiah says,

973
00:46:30,900 --> 00:46:33,280
I'm writing to everybody being carried away captive into Babylon.

974
00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:33,480
So,

975
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:34,240
I'm writing to people

976
00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:35,800
who are being taken to a place

977
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:37,000
they don't even want to be.

978
00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:38,740
But then he says something so interesting.

979
00:46:38,740 --> 00:46:39,620
He says,

980
00:46:39,620 --> 00:46:40,520
but don't despair.

981
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:42,600
Don't stop getting married

982
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:44,240
and having kids and raising families.

983
00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:47,400
Don't stop planting crops and harvesting.

984
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:49,140
Don't stop living your life.

985
00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:50,200
And then he gets to verse seven.

986
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:51,360
And in verse seven,

987
00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:51,720
he says,

988
00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:53,480
seek the peace and prosperity of the city

989
00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:54,940
to which I have carried you into exile.

990
00:46:54,940 --> 00:46:57,020
Pray to the Lord for it.

991
00:46:57,020 --> 00:46:58,300
Because if it prospers,

992
00:46:58,300 --> 00:46:59,220
you too will prosper.

993
00:47:00,720 --> 00:47:01,680
This is a message

994
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:03,540
that I want to encourage us as believers

995
00:47:03,540 --> 00:47:06,540
that I think a lot of people have forgotten

996
00:47:06,540 --> 00:47:10,400
or even sometimes mistakenly misidentify it

997
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:11,000
and say,

998
00:47:11,000 --> 00:47:11,240
well,

999
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:12,160
it's Christian nationalism.

1000
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:12,360
Now,

1001
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:12,960
hang on a second.

1002
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:14,000
Okay?

1003
00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:15,420
It doesn't matter what,

1004
00:47:15,420 --> 00:47:17,640
this is not a pro-America message.

1005
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:18,700
This is a Christian message.

1006
00:47:18,700 --> 00:47:23,060
There's a mission team literally going to another nation.

1007
00:47:23,060 --> 00:47:25,040
And the idea is,

1008
00:47:25,040 --> 00:47:26,280
wherever God plants you,

1009
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,920
you should work to bring God into that place

1010
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:31,920
and you should work to make that place better.

1011
00:47:31,920 --> 00:47:32,340
In fact,

1012
00:47:32,340 --> 00:47:34,380
you should pray to the Lord for it.

1013
00:47:34,380 --> 00:47:36,340
Because if you're living there,

1014
00:47:36,340 --> 00:47:37,160
when it does better,

1015
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:38,300
you do better.

1016
00:47:38,300 --> 00:47:40,640
And I think a lot of times as Christians,

1017
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:43,520
we've disconnected from society in ways

1018
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:44,520
and not realizing,

1019
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:44,700
well,

1020
00:47:44,700 --> 00:47:46,060
how do we make our society better?

1021
00:47:46,060 --> 00:47:47,120
How do we make the place

1022
00:47:47,120 --> 00:47:47,900
where God planted us better?

1023
00:47:47,900 --> 00:47:48,060
Well,

1024
00:47:48,060 --> 00:47:48,840
sometimes it means

1025
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:49,820
we need to pay attention

1026
00:47:49,820 --> 00:47:51,000
to what's going on in the school board meeting.

1027
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:52,320
Sometimes we need to pay attention

1028
00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:53,300
to what's going on in the city council

1029
00:47:53,300 --> 00:47:54,380
and our local government.

1030
00:47:54,380 --> 00:47:56,220
Sometimes we need to get more involved

1031
00:47:56,220 --> 00:47:56,860
in the community.

1032
00:47:56,860 --> 00:47:58,580
And this is something that

1033
00:47:58,580 --> 00:47:59,900
even I would point out,

1034
00:48:00,380 --> 00:48:01,380
Jeremiah's writing to people

1035
00:48:01,380 --> 00:48:02,960
who were slaves in exile.

1036
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,200
They don't even want to be there.

1037
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:07,720
And the more you love Jesus,

1038
00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:09,260
the less you want to be here.

1039
00:48:09,260 --> 00:48:09,920
Right?

1040
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:10,140
Like,

1041
00:48:10,140 --> 00:48:12,400
I am totally in exile here

1042
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:13,200
because this is not my home.

1043
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:14,820
I'm going somewhere else.

1044
00:48:14,820 --> 00:48:16,300
But as long as I'm here,

1045
00:48:16,300 --> 00:48:18,440
then I'm going to work

1046
00:48:18,440 --> 00:48:19,780
to be a good steward

1047
00:48:19,780 --> 00:48:21,360
with what God has given me,

1048
00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:22,680
with where God has planted me.

1049
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:23,620
And I'm going to work

1050
00:48:23,620 --> 00:48:24,300
to make a difference.

1051
00:48:24,300 --> 00:48:25,680
And this is what I would encourage.

1052
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:27,540
We have to restore

1053
00:48:27,540 --> 00:48:29,300
some of that mentality to us.

1054
00:48:29,300 --> 00:48:31,740
What made a difference in our nation

1055
00:48:31,740 --> 00:48:32,580
was the Bible

1056
00:48:32,580 --> 00:48:33,560
and the principles of Christianity,

1057
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:34,260
but it was people

1058
00:48:34,260 --> 00:48:35,020
that knew the Bible,

1059
00:48:35,020 --> 00:48:36,140
that applied the Bible,

1060
00:48:36,140 --> 00:48:37,860
that followed those principles

1061
00:48:37,860 --> 00:48:38,660
that made a difference.

1062
00:48:38,660 --> 00:48:40,180
And where our nation is struggling,

1063
00:48:40,180 --> 00:48:41,440
we are more secular today

1064
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:42,060
than we've ever been

1065
00:48:42,060 --> 00:48:42,800
in our nation's history.

1066
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:44,360
There are fewer people

1067
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:44,880
that go to church.

1068
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:45,440
There are fewer people

1069
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:46,020
that read the Bible.

1070
00:48:46,020 --> 00:48:46,680
There are fewer people

1071
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:47,480
that have a biblical worldview.

1072
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:49,040
The biggest problems

1073
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:49,900
we have in the nation

1074
00:48:49,900 --> 00:48:51,700
is not just a political leader,

1075
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:52,820
although I am thanking God

1076
00:48:52,820 --> 00:48:53,540
for a different political leader.

1077
00:48:53,540 --> 00:48:54,920
The biggest problem

1078
00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:55,320
in the nation

1079
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,160
is we have fewer people

1080
00:48:57,160 --> 00:48:58,020
that know and follow

1081
00:48:58,020 --> 00:48:58,660
the Word of God.

1082
00:48:58,660 --> 00:49:01,000
And this is part of what we,

1083
00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:01,960
as believers,

1084
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:03,500
have been called to do

1085
00:49:03,500 --> 00:49:04,420
to go make disciples.

1086
00:49:04,420 --> 00:49:06,140
Part of God's calling.

1087
00:49:06,140 --> 00:49:07,060
And if you want to know more

1088
00:49:07,060 --> 00:49:07,640
about some of the Christian

1089
00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:08,280
heritage of our nation,

1090
00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:09,560
some of the founding fathers,

1091
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:10,320
we have a website,

1092
00:49:10,320 --> 00:49:11,040
wallbillers.com.

1093
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:11,560
There's actually a couple

1094
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:12,420
of resources on the table.

1095
00:49:12,420 --> 00:49:13,660
The American Story,

1096
00:49:13,660 --> 00:49:14,340
The Beginnings,

1097
00:49:14,340 --> 00:49:14,840
The American Story,

1098
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:15,480
Building the Republic.

1099
00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:16,380
The American Story,

1100
00:49:16,380 --> 00:49:17,520
The Beginning starts from Columbus

1101
00:49:17,520 --> 00:49:18,280
and goes up through

1102
00:49:18,280 --> 00:49:18,820
the Constitution.

1103
00:49:18,820 --> 00:49:19,900
The American Story,

1104
00:49:19,900 --> 00:49:20,420
Building the Republic,

1105
00:49:20,420 --> 00:49:21,120
goes from the Constitution

1106
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,260
through the first eight presidents

1107
00:49:22,260 --> 00:49:24,160
and just shows a lot

1108
00:49:24,160 --> 00:49:24,800
of the stories.

1109
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:26,720
It's written in story form.

1110
00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:28,040
It's all footnoted.

1111
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:29,660
So it's reintroducing you

1112
00:49:29,660 --> 00:49:30,120
just like today

1113
00:49:30,120 --> 00:49:30,780
with some of those battles.

1114
00:49:30,780 --> 00:49:31,580
So some of the stories

1115
00:49:31,580 --> 00:49:32,000
that were there,

1116
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:33,180
what people said about it,

1117
00:49:33,180 --> 00:49:34,460
what was very clear God did.

1118
00:49:34,460 --> 00:49:35,060
We also,

1119
00:49:35,060 --> 00:49:36,220
what's called the Founder's Bible.

1120
00:49:36,220 --> 00:49:37,100
It's a normal Bible,

1121
00:49:37,100 --> 00:49:38,400
which is the most important thing

1122
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:38,940
we should be reading.

1123
00:49:38,940 --> 00:49:41,240
But it has thousands

1124
00:49:41,240 --> 00:49:41,860
and thousands

1125
00:49:41,860 --> 00:49:42,760
and thousands of quotes

1126
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:44,060
from the founding fathers

1127
00:49:44,060 --> 00:49:46,340
talking about how the Bible

1128
00:49:46,340 --> 00:49:47,400
or specific verses

1129
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:48,620
shaped their life,

1130
00:49:48,620 --> 00:49:49,360
their thinking,

1131
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:49,960
what they did.

1132
00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:50,940
And so it's a really great way

1133
00:49:50,940 --> 00:49:51,980
to actually see

1134
00:49:51,980 --> 00:49:52,880
how the Bible

1135
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:53,620
shaped our nation.

1136
00:49:53,620 --> 00:49:54,420
And the last thought

1137
00:49:54,420 --> 00:49:54,980
I want to give you,

1138
00:49:54,980 --> 00:49:56,160
again from the Bible,

1139
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:56,620
our name,

1140
00:49:56,620 --> 00:49:57,220
Wall Builders,

1141
00:49:57,220 --> 00:49:58,520
we took from the Bible book

1142
00:49:58,520 --> 00:49:59,120
of Nehemiah.

1143
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,100
And Nehemiah 2.17,

1144
00:50:01,100 --> 00:50:02,440
as he's calling people

1145
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:03,200
from around the nation

1146
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:03,900
to come together,

1147
00:50:03,900 --> 00:50:04,800
what he says is,

1148
00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:05,560
come let us rebuild

1149
00:50:05,560 --> 00:50:06,380
that we will no longer

1150
00:50:06,380 --> 00:50:07,020
be a disgrace.

1151
00:50:07,020 --> 00:50:10,160
Those of us paying attention

1152
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:11,160
know we've been dealing

1153
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:11,920
with some disgrace

1154
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:12,520
in this nation

1155
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:13,380
for a couple decades.

1156
00:50:13,380 --> 00:50:14,560
Right?

1157
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:15,240
For some of us,

1158
00:50:15,240 --> 00:50:16,300
for much of our lifetime,

1159
00:50:16,300 --> 00:50:18,220
we have never had

1160
00:50:18,220 --> 00:50:19,180
a better opportunity

1161
00:50:19,180 --> 00:50:19,840
to rebuild

1162
00:50:19,840 --> 00:50:20,500
than where we are

1163
00:50:20,500 --> 00:50:21,020
right now

1164
00:50:21,020 --> 00:50:23,020
for lots of reasons.

1165
00:50:23,020 --> 00:50:25,060
From a legal historic standpoint,

1166
00:50:25,060 --> 00:50:26,060
the Supreme Court

1167
00:50:26,060 --> 00:50:26,780
is making decisions

1168
00:50:26,780 --> 00:50:27,880
that have opened up

1169
00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:28,860
opportunities for us

1170
00:50:28,860 --> 00:50:30,800
to spread the Bible,

1171
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:31,680
spread Christianity

1172
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:32,380
like we've never

1173
00:50:32,380 --> 00:50:33,460
legally been allowed

1174
00:50:33,460 --> 00:50:34,500
to do in our lifetime

1175
00:50:34,500 --> 00:50:35,320
up until this moment.

1176
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:36,700
There's never been

1177
00:50:36,700 --> 00:50:37,520
a better time

1178
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:38,660
to be a believer

1179
00:50:38,660 --> 00:50:39,180
in America

1180
00:50:39,180 --> 00:50:40,120
to help share

1181
00:50:40,120 --> 00:50:40,720
and spread

1182
00:50:40,720 --> 00:50:41,600
what's going on.

1183
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:42,640
And this is where

1184
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:43,920
I would encourage us

1185
00:50:43,920 --> 00:50:44,500
with a challenge

1186
00:50:44,500 --> 00:50:45,080
of Nehemiah.

1187
00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:46,500
It's time for us

1188
00:50:46,500 --> 00:50:47,660
to roll up our sleeves

1189
00:50:47,660 --> 00:50:49,460
to get back to work

1190
00:50:49,460 --> 00:50:51,840
because God put us here

1191
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:53,000
on purpose for a reason.

1192
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:54,860
Maybe it's for such a time

1193
00:50:54,860 --> 00:50:55,340
as this

1194
00:50:55,340 --> 00:50:56,560
that we can work

1195
00:50:56,560 --> 00:50:57,660
to bring change

1196
00:50:57,660 --> 00:50:58,380
in this nation

1197
00:50:58,380 --> 00:50:59,460
and not just to the nation

1198
00:50:59,460 --> 00:51:00,580
but in the hearts

1199
00:51:00,580 --> 00:51:01,420
of mind of people

1200
00:51:01,420 --> 00:51:02,320
and when it does,

1201
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:03,160
it brings change

1202
00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:04,040
to the nation.

1203
00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:04,520
Thank you guys

1204
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:05,020
for letting me share.

1205
00:51:05,020 --> 00:51:05,340
Pastor?

1206
00:51:05,340 --> 00:51:05,400
Pastor?

1207
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:11,700
All righty.

1208
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:14,120
Thank you, Tim,

1209
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:15,440
so much.

1210
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:17,140
Hey, if I could have

1211
00:51:17,140 --> 00:51:18,200
the prayer team come up

1212
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:19,780
and have everybody stand.

1213
00:51:19,780 --> 00:51:33,060
I get this turned on.

1214
00:51:33,060 --> 00:51:33,840
Hello?

1215
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:34,240
Hello?

1216
00:51:34,240 --> 00:51:35,900
Hello?

1217
00:51:35,900 --> 00:51:36,040
Hello?

1218
00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:40,680
I think in her heyday,

1219
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:42,260
America was called

1220
00:51:42,260 --> 00:51:43,800
a light on a hill.

1221
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:46,960
And we've been that.

1222
00:51:46,960 --> 00:51:48,180
We kind of grew dim there

1223
00:51:48,180 --> 00:51:48,540
for a while

1224
00:51:48,540 --> 00:51:49,460
like Tim was saying

1225
00:51:49,460 --> 00:51:52,460
but the Lord's called us

1226
00:51:52,460 --> 00:51:54,220
to shine it bright, right?

1227
00:51:54,220 --> 00:51:56,240
So if you'll sing with me,

1228
00:51:56,240 --> 00:51:57,720
I know this is elementary

1229
00:51:57,720 --> 00:51:59,320
but that's kind of my speed.

1230
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:02,560
This little light of mine

1231
00:52:02,560 --> 00:52:05,880
I'm gonna let it shine

1232
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:09,320
This little light of mine

1233
00:52:09,320 --> 00:52:12,300
I'm gonna let it shine

1234
00:52:12,300 --> 00:52:15,980
Oh, this little light of mine

1235
00:52:15,980 --> 00:52:19,000
I'm gonna let it shine

1236
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:20,780
Let it shine

1237
00:52:20,780 --> 00:52:22,380
Let it shine

1238
00:52:22,380 --> 00:52:24,480
Let it shine

1239
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:29,440
Yeah, this little light of mine

1240
00:52:29,440 --> 00:52:32,080
I'm gonna let it shine

1241
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:36,020
This little light of mine

1242
00:52:36,020 --> 00:52:39,180
I'm gonna let it shine

1243
00:52:39,180 --> 00:52:42,600
This little light of mine

1244
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:45,760
I'm gonna let it shine

1245
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:47,580
Let it shine

1246
00:52:47,580 --> 00:52:49,120
Let it shine

1247
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:51,140
Let it shine

1248
00:52:51,140 --> 00:52:54,320
Yes, let it shine

1249
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:55,500
Let it shine

1250
00:52:55,500 --> 00:52:58,220
Let it shine

1251
00:52:58,220 --> 00:53:03,040
God bless you. Have a great week.

1252
00:53:03,040 --> 00:53:06,540
If you need prayer, come over here to the prayer team.

1253
00:53:06,540 --> 00:53:08,480
Stop by the table, see Tim.

1254
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:10,460
Give him another round of applause.

1255
00:53:10,460 --> 00:53:11,200
Thank you.

1256
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:12,200
Thank you.