It was April 29, 1607. Around 100 weary Englishmen disembarked at Cape Henry, Virginia after a four-month voyage across the Atlantic.
Their first act was to gather around a seven-foot oak cross they had brought from England to pray and dedicate the land of their new home to God. During the dedicatory prayer, their chaplain, Rev. Robert Hunt, suddenly declared, "From these very shores the gospel will go forth, not only to this New World, but to all the world" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 37).
Thirteen years later in 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in New England also with a missionary vision. The common belief that they were fleeing persecution is only one side of the coin. There was also a proactive vision that was pulling them forward. In the Mayflower Compact they clearly stated that they had come to the New World for two reasons: (1) the glory of God and (2) the advancement of the Christian faith.
Twenty-three years later, in 1643, with thousands of new immigrants having settled in New England and new towns having sprung up, the United Colonies of New England was formed. They too had a missionary vision. In the opening of their constitution, they clearly stated why they had all come to this land. They said:
"Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the Liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 31).
This missionary vision deepened as a result of the Great Awakening (1726-70) and became a part of the American psyche, profoundly impacting America's founding generation. America's founders, even the most nonreligious ones, envisioned this being a land of religious liberty from which the gospel would go forth to the ends of the earth, just as Hunt had declared.
In 1756, for example, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to George Whitefield, the most famous preacher of the Great Awakening, proposing that they partner together in founding a new colony on the American frontier in the area of present day Ohio. Franklin included a missionary reason for founding the new colony, saying:
"Might it not greatly facilitate the introduction of pure religion among the heathen, if we could, by such a colony, show them a better sample of Christians than they commonly see" (Hyatt, "1726:The Year that Defined America," 137).
George Washington also had a missionary vision. This is made clear in a prayer journal he kept in his 20s. One entry reads, "Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ" (Hyatt, "1726:The Year that Defined America," 132).
His missionary vision was also obvious in a 1779 meeting with chiefs from the Delaware American Indian tribe. The chiefs were seeking greater cooperation with the new American government and had brought some of their youth to be trained in American schools. Washington cordially greeted them, calling them "brothers," and then said, "You do well to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ." (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 172).
Thomas Jefferson closed all official documents with the caption, "In the Year of Our Lord, Christ." As president, he negotiated a federal treaty with the Kaskaskia Native American tribe, which made federal funds available to pay for a Christian missionary to work with the tribe and for the building of a Christian church in which the they would worship. Jefferson also said:
"Of all the systems of morality that have come under my observation, none appear so pure to me as that of Jesus" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 150).
John Hancock served as president of the Continental Congress and his signature on the Declaration of Independence is the largest and most prominent. He too had a passion for missions. While serving as governor of Massachusetts, he proclaimed a Day of Prayer in which he exhorted the people to pray for:
"The spreading of the true religion of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, in its purity and power, among all the people of the earth" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 173).
https://www.charismanews.com/culture/92141-a-416-year-old-prophecy-that-still-gives-america-hope
part 2
In the 19th century, the passion for evangelism and missions mushroomed and America became the greatest missionary-sending nation in the history of Christendom. Many missionary societies were formed for the sole purpose of sending out both home and foreign missionaries. In his Autobiography, the famous evangelist, Charles G. Finney, tells how he was initially sent forth to labor for souls by a "Female Missionary Society."
The French sociologist, Alexis de Tocqueville, visited America in 1831 and was astounded by the passion for missions he saw everywhere. He wrote:
"I have known of societies formed by the Americans to send out ministers of the Gospel in the new Western states, to found schools and churches there, lest religion should be suffered to die away in those remote settlements, and the rising states be less fitted to enjoy free institutions than the people from whom they came" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 167).
The 19th century became known as "The Great Century of Protestant Missions" as many thousands of missionaries went forth into all the world. This passion for missions was so prevalent that it caught the attention of the nation's highest court.
In the 1892 ruling, Church of the Holy Trinity vs The United States, the nation's highest court declared America to be a "Christian nation." Among the reasons listed for their conclusion, was the missionary vision that permeated the nation's churches and the nation itself. They wrote:
"The gigantic missionary associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every quarter of the globe. These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation" (Hyatt, "1726: The Year that Defined America," 170).
It seems clear that God raised up America to be a place from which His word would flow forth to the ends of the earth. I wonder, however, if we have lost our rai·son d'être. Has a me-centered gospel diverted us from our calling to take the gospel to all creation? Has the Great Commission become the Great Omission of the American Church?
Yes, 416 years ago, on the windswept shores of Cape Henry, a small group of immigrants birthed a great missionary vision for a new nation. My prayer is that God will send another Great Awakening across this land that will revive the sleeping churches and reawaken the missionary vision that has been such a vital part of this nation's history.
https://www.charismanews.com/culture/92141-a-416-year-old-prophecy-that-still-gives-america-hope
Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz testified yesterday that more than 3.4 million search queries into the NSA database took place between Dec. 1st, 2020 and Nov. 30th, 2021, by government officials and/or contractors working on behalf of the federal government. These search queries were based on authorizations related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Approximately 30% of those 3.4 million search queries were outside the rules and regulations that govern warrantless searches, what the politically correct government calls “non-compliant searches.”
Additionally, IG Horowitz also admitted that somewhere north of 10,000 federal employees have access to conduct these searches of the NSA database; a database which contains the electronic data of every single American, including emails, text messages, social media posts, instant messages, direct messages, phone calls, geolocation identifiers, purchases by electronic funds, banking records and any keystroke any American person puts into any electronic device for any reason.
If we were in a functioning system of government everything would be stopped right now, and no conversation would be taking place that was not about this issue. This is the total and complete surveillance state being talked about as if we were discussing what’s for dinner.
This is beyond jaw-dropping.
Context: In 2018 CTH revealed through research of their own documents that FBI and DOJ/FBI contractors had done more than 1,000 illegal searches using the NSA database, targeting Republican primary candidates from November 2015 through May 2016. These stunning admissions were from the DOJ’s own reporting to the FISA court.
Few were paying attention.
Although the number of the illegal search queries were redacted, we know the number is four digits from the size of the redacted text. More than 1,000 and less than 9,999.
FAST FORWARD TO 2023 – Yesterday, IG Horowitz outlined that more than 1.1 million illegal searches of this database were conducted in 2021 during the first year of the Joe Biden administration.
Additionally, and perhaps more consequentially, to give scope to how the process of total domestic surveillance has expanded, Horowitz now admits in 2021 the number of federal government employees with access to this total metadata collection system now exceeds 10,000 people. STOP THE PRESSES!
Yes, congress is talking about this ‘as if’ there is some level of importance. However, the basic questions are not being asked, or have perhaps just become so accepted that legislators have become oblivious to the insanity of it. Beyond the blood boiling questions about searching the NSA database, questions like:
In order for these search queries to take place, there has to be a housing facility to capture it.
Where is all of this electronic data being stored?
Why is all of this electronic data being stored?
Who is in control of this all-encompassing electronic data collection?
Forget the searches for a moment, what act of congress authorized the capture of this private data collection? Essentially electronic intercepts of communication systems that flow throughout our life.
The background context here is congress debating the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the power of the DOJ and FBI to intercept American citizen communication and electronic data via the “702” authorizations, that permit the NSA database to be searched and queried.
If the inspector general is now admitting the FISA laws have been so comprehensively corrupted such that 3.4 million searches by more than 10,000 federal employees and government contractors now have access, there is no way that any reasonably intelligent person should support such reauthorization. Even contemplating this request is absurd, beyond absurd.
The United States government is admitting to the public that a total and comprehensive surveillance state is currently in place, and 10,000 federal government agents have the authorization to monitor everything we do.
This is the admitted and current status of RIGHT NOW. Yet people are worried about possible ‘vaccination passports’ or ‘digital currencies’ or ‘social credit scores’ sometime in the future?
Have we totally lost connection to the reality of our current condition?
Can you see the insanity of it?…
… Or should we just ask, “what’s for dinner?”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/28/wait-what-doj-inspector-general-reveals-more-than-10000-federal-employees-have-access-to-nsa-database-for-surveillance-inquiries/
forgot to mention:
caveat:
i'd consider myself and abject failure as a patriot if my name not found in the nsa database