History of God's Original Intent
for America

The first island Columbus landed on, he christened San Salvador, meaning, "Holy Saviour" Then as he knelt, he prayed:

"O Lord, Almighty and everlasting God, by Thy Holy Word Thou hast created the  heaven, and the earth, and the sea; blessed and glorified by Thy Name, and praise be Thy Majesty, which hath designed to use us, Thy humble servants, that Thy Holy Name may be proclaimed in this second part of the earth." 

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As they landed on each island, Columbus had his men erect a large wooden cross:

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                       "As a token of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in honor of the Christian faith."

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According to Columbus' personal log, his purpose in seeking "undiscovered worlds" was to:

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                       * to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathens

                       * and to bring the Word of God  to unknown coastlands 

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Source: America's God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations by William J. Federer

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      For the execution of the journey to the Indies I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied. All this is what I desire to write down for you in this book. No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is according to His sovereign will even though He gives advice. He lacks nothing that it is in the power of men to give Him.

 

      Oh what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible! Day and night moment by moment, everyone should express to Him their most devoted gratitude. I said that some of the prophecies remained yet to be fulfilled. These are great and wonderful things for the earth, and the signs are that the Lord is hastening the end. The fact that the gospel must still be preached to so many lands in such a short time - this is what convinces me. 

Source: http://www.christianheritagemins.org/articles/Christopher%20Columbus%27%20Scriptural%20Book%20of%20Prophecies.pdf

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Jamestown Settlers to the New Land  1607     

 

        Although religion in Jamestown was quite orthodox and focused specifically on Christianity, it eventually became very complex with numerous denominations. Virginia was to be a place where many different forms of Christianity would attempt to develop and flourish. In the beginning, the first and foremost goals of the colonists were to spread Christianity, and they were initially members of the Anglican Church. 

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      King James I was the head of the Church of England, and wanted to establish Protestant Christianity as the only religion of the New World. He expected it to be of extreme importance to the colonists, and “the daily lives of the colonists where punctuated with the rhythms of religious rituals” (Rasor, 24).  Ministers, appointed by the Bishop of London, were among the colonists on the first ships to Virginia and the first charter of Virginia instructed colonists to spread Christianity to the natives (Butterfield, 6). It “mandated the spread of the religion now professed and established within the Church of England”, which was the established church of the colony of Virginia (Butterfield, 6).

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Source: http://jamestowngroup6.weebly.com/religion.html

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The Pilgrims: The Mayflower Compact  1620

Modern Version:

Before the Pilgrims left their ship and set foot onto the new land; they created this document, which

was a covenant between God and each other:

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In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancements of the Christian faith and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, 1620.

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Source: https://leadershipamerica.org/our-core-documents/the-mayflower-compact/

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John Winthrop: Governor of the Massachusetts

Bay Colony  1630

      The “City upon a Hill” section of the sermon called “A Model of Christian Charity” was written in 1630 by the Puritan leader John Winthrop while the first group of Puritan emigrants was still onboard their ship, the Arbella, waiting to disembark and create their first settlement in what would become New England. 

In Conclusion of his sermon he gave this charge to those in attendance:

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    …And to shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord in his last farewell to Israel [in] Deut. 30. Beloved there is now set before us life, and good, death and evil in that we are Commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandements and his Ordinance, and his laws, and the Articles of our Covenant with him that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it:

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Source: https://thehistoricpresent.com/the-city-upon-a-hill-by-john-winthrop/

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Below is an excerpt from The Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter in 1629:

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It is fully and faithfully agreed amongst us, ... that ... we will be ready in our persons ... to embarke for the said plantation by the first of March next, ... to the end to passe the seas (under God's protection) to inhabite and continue in New England.

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Source: http://www.comity.org/CharterLinks.htm

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Harvard University in 1636: School Motto and Mission

Harvard College was established for the sake of educating the clergy and raising up a Christian academic institution to meet the needs of perpetuating the Christian faith. 

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The motto of the University adopted in 1692 was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae which translated from Latin means Truth for Christ and the Church

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Source: https://www.beinyu.com/harvard-university-motto-meaning/

 

An excerpt from Harvard University's Rules and Precepts:

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"Let every student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of sound knowledge and learning."

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Source: https://christianheritagefellowship.com/the-christian-founding-of-harvard/

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Samuel Adams 1797

Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Father of the American Revolution

 

"And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken to pieces, and the oppressed made free again; that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among nations may be overruled by promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all people everywhere willingly bow to the sceptre of Him who is Prince of Peace."
--As Governor of Massachusetts, Proclamation of a Day of Fast, March 20, 1797.

 

Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-700789

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John Quincy Adams: 6th U.S. President 1825-1829

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"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isaiah 52:10)."

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Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-700789

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Patrick Henry 1736-1799

Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here."

Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-700789

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John Jay 1745-1829

1st Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and President of the American Bible Society

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"The Bible will also inform them that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; that this Redeemer has made atonement 'for the sins of the whole world,' and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits are of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve."

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Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-700789

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Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758

Puritan Preacher Revivalist

 

It is not unlikely that this work of God’s Spirit [i.e. the religious revival], so extraordinary and wonderful, is the dawning, or at least a prelude of the glorious work of God so often foretold in scripture, which, in the progress and issue of it, shall renew the world of mankind…

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And there are things that make it probable that this work will begin in America. –It is signified that it shall begin in some very remote part of the world, with which other parts have no communication but by navigation, in Isa. lx. 9. “Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring my sons from far.” It is exceeding manifest that this chapter is a prosperity of the church, in its most glorious state on earth, in the latter days; and I cannot think that any thing else can be here intended but America by the isles that are far off, from whence the first born sons of that glorious day shall be brought.

 

Source: God’s New Israel—Religious Interpretations of American Destiny, edited by Conrad Cherry; page 55

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Francis Scott Key   1814

 Wrote the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner

The National Anthem of the United States of America

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 4th stanza of The Star Spangled Banner...

Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation,
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land,
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

    

Source: https://www.flagstoreusa.com/resources/flag-histories/the-star-spangled-banner/

 

The patriot who feels himself in the service of God, who acknowledges Him in all his ways, has the promise of Almighty direction, and will find His Word in his greatest darkness.

 

Source: https://www.azquotes.com/author/7952-Francis_Scott_Key