Light and the Glory, The: 1492-1793 [Hardcover]

Light and the Glory, The: 1492-1793 (God's Plan for America)This should be a must read for every US citizen! We often forget what a miracle our country was - a new idea in a world of repressive governments. It was freedom with responsibility as God intended for His children. Events that history has buried and have been discovered by the research of these authors will astound you. It was truly a miracle that we won our freedom from one of the the most powerful nations on earth and then were able to build a stable democracy uniting 13 independent colonies.

While there are many things labeled "Christian" that are clearly not, there also are things that are extremely "Christian" that have been spared the label. We all know someone who "is the nicest person we know" that do not label themselves, nor proclaim Christianity. Yet that person most likely exudes more true Christian character than most of the people who occupy the pews at your closest church. So, as we all know, the label means absolutely nothing.

If one would chance to read this book, all the way through, noting the quality of the first hand evidence, as well as discarding all conjecture, you can clearly see that it becomes a far greater task to take the "Christian" out of the founding of this country, than to show the thread of Divine Providence that continued to weave the existence of America. This even despite the clear and repeated attempts by the enemy to side track the operation. There are far too many so called coincidences, that one needs to over look or ignore, that are a firmly documented part of this nation's history.

A little more common sense used with some deductive reasoning, instead of preconceived notions, will lead to a few obvious conclusions. God gave man dominion over all of creation. He clearly expected him to interact with that creation. The history of the world, before Christ, was slavery and tyranny. Christ came to set us free, give us life and life to the full. While man has spent the last 2000+ years attempting to follow in the steps of Jesus, many mistakes have been made. But, far more good has been accomplished. The light of the Gospel has been advanced and evil has been retarded where it has been confronted. We are clearly winding up to the conclusion of the coming Kingdom of God, here on earth as it is in heaven. (Please see any of the writings of N.T. Wright, New Testament Theologian, Scholar, and Bishop of Durham)

The question then becomes, while man is here on earth, attempting to follow the path of Jesus, does God/Christ expect "Freedom" to be part of the equation? Is it a necessary event that happened at just the right time in history, by just the right set of people, all for a specific set of reasons? OR, was freedom just a happenstance by product of greedy people groups of the 15th & 16th centuries seeking personal gain?

Only one of those scenarios is a logical conclusion. We, as Christians, living under Freedom, have the harder task. We acknowledge past mistakes (individual & country), we seek forgiveness, we make amends where we can, we follow Jesus first. We confront evil (physical & spiritual) when we need to. We seek justice in all things. We do our best not to allow the enemy to side track us with the trappings provided by the very freedom we enjoy. If we have failed to stay focused on the spread of the Kingdom of God, we must repent and refocus.

We do not allow guilt to overcome us and let the gift of freedom slip away. Man being free is the point. To think that our God would choose less than that for his creation is just absurd. Freedom should not be forced upon any individual or country, but it should be maintained by those it has been entrusted to. As the Pilgrims thought and 180 years later our nations Founding Fathers thought, defending the freedom given to you by God, is obedience to the same.

We are not Christians because we live in a Christian nation, nor because our fore fathers were Christians. We are a Christian nation because as Christians we defend the ideals of freedom. Those ideals have their very roots within the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Freedom is the culmination (in our physical world) of the work Christ preformed on Calvary.

America just happened to be chosen and set aside by God to be the bearer of those ideals. We have the awesome responsibility to provide the one and only example in all of history, of Freedom, to the rest of the world. To the extent that we have failed to live up to that responsibility, in how we choose to display the advantages of freedom, you will find a proportionate distance has been traveled away from the original intent for our nation, as miraculously laid out by our Founding Fathers. The farther we have strayed from the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the more we have discredited ourselves in the eyes of the rest of the world.

Those documents not only spell out the best way to use, uphold and protect the freedom which was given to us (America), but they also acknowledge the God who gave it to us as well! We seem to have traveled along way from that part as well!

Read the book it is an excellent read. If it is as convoluted as some have said, you'll know it.
No harm done, it is a great story either way. God is a good story teller, whether you believe it to be fiction or not.

I am a graduate student in counseling at a large university. It is refreshing to read the truth about the "Christian" beginnings of America. Many of today's authors (especially in the field of counseling) either noticeably ignore or write in a tone of hate when they discuss the well-known role of Christianity in the founding of America. Authors Marshall and Manuel do a wonderful job in reminding us all that it is God who was the Author of this country.

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