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restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations
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Not Everyone Has Surrendered
The night had been cold and wet—blizzard conditions, really. General George Washington’s troops had just crossed the Delaware River in preparation to launch a surprise attack on the Hessian troops quartered in Trenton, New Jersey. When Lieutenant James Monroe reached the highway between Trenton and Princeton he intercepted and took prisoner those who were passing in either direction. Farmers, woodcutters, young men out courting—all were rounded up, as neither side could distinguish foe from friend.
Lieutenant Monroe met a Jersyman who had come outdoors to see why his dogs were barking. Monroe remembered that the man thought “we were from the British army, and ordered us off…. He was violent and determined in his manner….” Monroe threatened to arrest the man if he didn’t go back inside. When the man realized that the troops were American, his demeanor suddenly changed. He fed as many of the troops as he could and then offered to join them. “I’m a doctor,” he said, “and I may be of help to some poor fellow.” Monroe accepted his offer, and Doctor John Riker joined the American army as a surgeon-volunteer. (Incidentally, in the ensuing battle Monroe was hit by a musket ball that severed an artery. His life was saved by Dr. Riker. The New Jersey physician clamped Monroe’s artery just in time to prevent him from bleeding to death.)
This week I leave for Valley Forge to attach myself to a modern patriot army called the Constitution Party. Like Dr. Riker, I am no military man—just a Johnny-come-lately to this modern revolution to restore America to her constitutional roots. I go offering whatever services I can, large or small.
What attracts me to this cause?
The answer is to be found in the Constitution Party’s platform. Read it and you will see that it calls for people to make a choice, just as Joshua did in Joshua 24. In Joshua’s case the choice was between the true God and the many false gods of the Amorites; in our case the choice is between lawful, constitutional government and the usurpation of our God-given unalienable rights by our Washington politicians. Of course, Joshua’s appeal was purely rhetorical; from God’s point of view there is only one option. And Joshua clearly and unambiguously took his stand on the side of the living God.
The alternative to standing up and being counted is found in Isaiah 7:11: “For how long, Lord? And He answered, until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.” And then the solution is given: “The Lord Almighty is the only one you are to regard as holy, He is the one you are to fear. He is the one you are to dread, and He will be a sanctuary.”
In the end, I am compelled to go to Valley Forge because I am convinced of one thing: To obey the whims and social trends of a humanistic culture, even the edicts of co-opted “conservatives,” is to forsake obedience to the One to whom ultimate obedience is due.
My friends, not everyone in the church of Jesus Christ has accepted the myth of neutrality or the opposition’s lies. Not everyone has surrendered the battlefield to the enemy. Not everyone has been bamboozled by the high priests of Political Correctness or by a public educational system that turns out generation after generation of neo-barbarians.
The Christian counter-attack is about to begin. We must choose this day between a secular Caesar and the God of Joshua. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I will have the honor of bringing the election exhortation at the convention on Friday evening. Your prayers will be greatly appreciated.
June 21, 2004
David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.