Who is Shaping America?

I was reading the history of the Puritans who settled in New England in the early years of our country? That was a long time ago, but there is a forgotten lesson to be learned from them. The family unit which consisted of a man, his wife and their children was one of their firm beliefs.

 They were called Puritans for many different reasons, but the main reason was that they believed in the "PURE RAW WORD OF GOD” Not just part of the Bible but all of it and none of it sugar coated. They laid a foundation for our country which was and still is unique and rare in our country's history. Some people call them religious nuts because of their beliefs., but they were on target about the family unit. A lot of people call me a religious nut because of my beliefs. I have said, more than once, we do not have to sugar coat the gospel. I have been called a Bible thumper, religious idiot, and out of touch with today's world because I stand firm on the Word of God. I want to zero in on their beliefs about the family unit which I also firmly believe in.

The more I read about the Puritans beliefs the more I see they had a most significant influence on the development of America. A large portion of later pioneers and westward settlers were descendants of these early Puritans and still followed their ways, their values and principles, though they were sometimes secularized and some people tried to remove them from their religious foundations and their practices, they continued to mould America by their thoughts and practices in the years that followed. How we need that foundation today. so how did the Puritans help to mould this country?

The family unit was the most basic institution in the Puritan society and it was organized like a church or structured like a church and as far as I'm concerned they were right in this. The training of their children began at home. They believed the family was the foundation of all civil, social, and church life, and rightly so. The training of their children began in the family unit and was not left to the government, the village, or psychology. Former President Nixon made the following statement when he was president: "The family unit is the foundation of America". How true those words were and still are today, as they were in Nixon's day or when the Puritans were here at the beginning of our nation. Back in 2006, our president at the time Obama said: “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation.”  I hate to say it but he is just about right, even though he was not saying it as a warning but as an accomplishment.  We are, for the most part, living in an ungodly country, a country that knows not the Living God of the Bible.

The family was instituted and established by Our God before all other institutions and before man's fall. In the morning and evening the Puritan family unit assembled together to worship the Lord and on Sundays, the family unit joined other family units in the worship service. The Puritans believed God and His worship were important enough to reserve at least one full day out of the week, and the original Puritan settlers joyfully devoted Sunday to the Lord. They had a joy deep down in their souls.

Sermons were the centre or bull's eye to the intellectual life of the Puritans, and they rarely were less than an hour in length. Now if we have a sermon for over ten minutes people complain.  We need some of those bull’s eye sermons today, not the motivational messages that will tickle your ears we hear today.  The instruction and training of children by the Puritans were considered heavy responsibilities, and parents prayed that children would become a source of glory to their Lord. The children were taught and disciplined when needed. How this is needed in today's family. But for the most part, it is just not there no more.

In doctrine and practice, the Puritans believed the Bible was and is the only written word of God, with the original text inspired by God and without error. They believe the Creator God has revealed Himself to us in three persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe in the necessity of personal salvation by grace through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. They believe that the Holy Spirit is instrumental in leading a believer to recognize the need for holiness. They also believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

I have said many times that the religious training should start in the home and that training should follow not only our children but the parents as well where ever we go. Our children need to know about Jesus Christ and most of all they need to understand and respect the very foundation the family unit is founded on. 

Because the children are not taught in the home the Christian values and moral values which they so desperately need, they are being raised and taught by our ungodly government, the village, the modern church, and some liberal school teachers that are teaching contrary to the Word of God. We must once again shape our homes and our country to the teachings of the Word of God starting in the homes of every family in this country.