The Jewish roots of Christianity

Home » Zola TV » Video Archives » ZLM Video

Bible teaching with an emphasis on Israel, prophecy and the Jewish roots of Christianity

This program is not available for playing in your browser (see below for alternatives).

Play video (28:30)

Note: You can control playback speed from the gear menu in the player above.

Episode: “Faith to Build a Nation Upon”
Biblical accounts of Israel becoming a nation in the Promised Land inspired America’s Founding Fathers in creating a new nation. They believed that the Bible was the Word of God and the ultimate source for establishing faith and righteousness.
Series: “Faith of our Fathers”
The Old Testament provides many examples of individuals whose faithful lives contributed to the building up of national Israel. Their actions inspired a future generation of dedicated people to begin carving out a modern yet Godly nation in the New World. In this series, Dr. Jeffrey Seif focuses on these people of faith. In addition, Christian historian David Barton presents original source documents, chronicling many of America’s Founding Fathers’ beliefs and efforts to anchor this nation to the moorings of belief in the God of Israel.

Caption transcript for Faith of our Fathers: “Faith to Build a Nation Upon” (4/8)

  • 00:01 ♪♪♪
  • 00:03 David Hart: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots."
  • 00:09 The Word of God has given us examples of faith that have
  • 00:12 shaped virtually every aspect of the believer's life today.
  • 00:17 Where would we be without the examples of Noah, Abraham, and
  • 00:22 Isaac, David, and ultimately that of Yeshua Jesus?
  • 00:28 Faith is woven into the fabric of America as well.
  • 00:32 From the pilgrims to John Adams to Patrick Henry and George
  • 00:36 Washington, God's providential hand remained highly esteemed
  • 00:42 and honored above all.
  • 00:44 Faith unshakeable, faith unstoppable,
  • 00:48 "Faith of our Fathers."
  • 00:54 David: Thank you for joining us today, I am David Hart.
  • 00:57 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 00:58 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif, and we are
  • 01:01 so glad that you're tuning in to the "Faith of our Fathers."
  • 01:06 It's a great series.
  • 01:08 Kirsten: I grew up in church.
  • 01:09 Dave grew up in church too.
  • 01:11 I sang in the Presbyterian hymnal a song, a hymn, "Faith of
  • 01:15 our Fathers," and today you're really kinda focusing in on that
  • 01:19 deep faith that they all had and that our biblical fathers had.
  • 01:24 Jeffrey: And there's a lot of great stuff in that
  • 01:25 hymns that people forget.
  • 01:26 There's a lot of great stuff in American literature that people
  • 01:29 forget that speaks about the faith that resounded in the
  • 01:33 hearts and minds of those that founded this culture.
  • 01:35 David: That's right. It's all about faith.
  • 01:37 It's--there's a parallel there with "Faith of our Fathers"
  • 01:41 and faith of our nation.
  • 01:43 Dr. Seif teaches right now.
  • 01:45 Let's go there.
  • 01:48 [Jeffrey speaking in Hebrew]
  • 01:51 Jeffrey: There's your two words for the day.
  • 01:54 "Admat kodesh," holy ground.
  • 01:59 If you can remember the story, Moshe Rabbenu, Moses was
  • 02:03 beckoned to come close.
  • 02:05 He heard a voice and he responded to it, and the Lord
  • 02:09 spoke to him through it and beckoned him to come.
  • 02:14 We'll get to that in a moment.
  • 02:16 And he was beckoned to take off his sandals, why?
  • 02:19 Because of admat kodesh, holy ground.
  • 02:25 Now, there's a sense where God is that the space is sacred, and
  • 02:32 we don't work with that in modernity as much as our
  • 02:35 forefathers did, as much as they did in biblical antiquity.
  • 02:40 That is to say, today, worship space can be a
  • 02:42 gymnasium, a storefront.
  • 02:45 You know, the sticks and bricks don't matter.
  • 02:47 And the minister can be Brother Bob.
  • 02:49 He's all about or she's all about just wanting to
  • 02:52 be one of the folk.
  • 02:54 There's not special clerical garb to denote the minister,
  • 02:58 never mind titled language like "The Reverend Doctor
  • 03:01 Bishop" or whatever.
  • 03:02 That seems so very old guard, but that which is old guard
  • 03:08 comes from a kind of reverence that's noted in the biblical
  • 03:12 literature for sacred space.
  • 03:16 Could it be that those that approach the
  • 03:18 space, if there's more seriousness in it, maybe
  • 03:21 they're more apt to get something from it?
  • 03:23 Well, that's the logic. I'll leave it to you.
  • 03:25 It's not my point for today, it's just the beginning of it.
  • 03:28 Because you might recall from Shemot, from Exodus, in the 3rd
  • 03:32 chapter, Moshe Rabbenu of course is beckoned to come.
  • 03:36 And he was beckoned to come and he was downloaded with a
  • 03:39 message, and the message was very simple and he gave it to
  • 03:43 Pharaoh Melech Mitzrayim, Pharaoh the King of Egypt.
  • 03:47 He said-- [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 03:50 Three words, "Shalach et ami."
  • 03:54 "Let go my people," or "Let my people go."
  • 04:01 He wanted to declare that independence, and of course
  • 04:04 Pharaoh would have none of it and a wrestling match ensued.
  • 04:09 The net result, certain plagues befell the Egyptians:
  • 04:12 [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 04:18 Blood, frogs, lice, vermin, all this stuff is unleashed.
  • 04:22 Finally the last of those plagues, Pharaoh relents, says,
  • 04:26 "Okay, enough already, go."
  • 04:28 It began with the beckoning in chapter 5.
  • 04:32 The message was, "Let my people go."
  • 04:37 It was a declaration.
  • 04:39 And I'm thinking of, you know, declarations.
  • 04:44 You know, when I think of the faith of our fathers, if you
  • 04:46 look at those who signed our Declaration of Independence--
  • 04:49 I mean, this is an independence right here, but it's more of a
  • 04:52 declaration of dependence, I should say, because people
  • 04:56 really felt dependent on God.
  • 04:58 Well, I shouldn't just say back in biblical days.
  • 05:00 Certainly with the founders in our culture, so many were
  • 05:03 ministers of those signers, and there was a kind of punkish kind
  • 05:08 of, you know, declaring independence.
  • 05:12 Even--you know the expression "John Hancock."
  • 05:15 When someone signs their signature, someone will say,
  • 05:17 "Here, I need your John Hancock," because on the
  • 05:19 Declaration, he signed it in really big letters, so his
  • 05:23 signature is bigger than the others.
  • 05:25 And the reason for that is is King George was notorious for
  • 05:28 his poor vision and he wrote his name really big, then he
  • 05:33 puts the quill down and says, "I bet you George can read that.
  • 05:37 He ought to be able to see that."
  • 05:38 He's throwing down the gauntlet.
  • 05:40 It's not just a declaration of independence, it's a
  • 05:43 declaration of war.
  • 05:44 It's making a stand, and it was, you know, "Enough already."
  • 05:49 And it's the equivalent in Roman antiquity of
  • 05:52 crossing the Rubicon.
  • 05:53 It's construed as a declaration.
  • 05:55 And of course you know how it all played out.
  • 05:57 There was a struggle in Bible days with Moses,
  • 06:02 with the Egyptians.
  • 06:03 In our own history, a struggle, Colonial America with the
  • 06:07 British overlords.
  • 06:09 In fact, if you look at the history, and it's forgotten in
  • 06:13 so many ways today because people wanna reinvent history
  • 06:16 and divest it of its biblical moorings, but the imagery of the
  • 06:20 Israelites with their fight against the Egyptians and their
  • 06:25 being led to the new world with the Shekinah, with the Shekinah.
  • 06:30 Remember the cloud that led and the fire, how God led these
  • 06:34 displaced persons from one world?
  • 06:37 They crossed the sand to the new world.
  • 06:39 Well, those that came here to this New World,
  • 06:41 they didn't cross the sand, they crossed the sea,
  • 06:44 but the imagery really resonated with them.
  • 06:47 It was so much the case, by the way, the Older Testament really
  • 06:51 factored into the equation, which is why if you look at the
  • 06:54 literature, there are all kinds of citations with our founding
  • 06:57 fathers from the Hebrew Bible.
  • 06:59 The Hebrew language itself was mandated to be taught at Harvard
  • 07:03 University when it all began.
  • 07:05 Not so with Yale initially, but they caught on later on.
  • 07:08 But everyone who was anyone was beckoned to learn the Hebrew
  • 07:12 language, to learn the Hebrew Bible.
  • 07:16 One God, one Bible.
  • 07:17 And our forefathers in this culture really derived some
  • 07:21 benefit from the story because they felt they were living it in
  • 07:25 their own context.
  • 07:27 Not only was it the story of being led to the new world, as
  • 07:30 in the initial pilgrims, but once they get there,
  • 07:33 they have to conquer.
  • 07:34 In the story of Joshua, you might recall, that miracles got
  • 07:38 them to the new world.
  • 07:40 And there were miracles to be sure with Joshua, but they still
  • 07:43 had to unsheathe their swords and go on and contend for their
  • 07:46 place in the new world.
  • 07:48 And the story of Joshua, how God helped them in the struggle,
  • 07:53 resonated to be sure with the pilgrims, and they got help from
  • 07:56 interesting people along the way.
  • 07:58 You can think of Rahab, by the way, going back to the Joshua
  • 08:01 story and the spies.
  • 08:02 Sometimes when you're about God's business, you find friends
  • 08:05 you didn't quite know you had 'em and people come out of the
  • 08:08 woodwork 'cause they sense something's at play here.
  • 08:13 It's great, it so much correlates with our
  • 08:16 national story, to my way of thinking.
  • 08:18 The exodus, you know, the Declaration of Independence, the
  • 08:23 braving the hazards, the political struggle, the warfare
  • 08:29 that ensued, and finally making it and breaking it, getting a
  • 08:33 foothold into the New World, and then expanding and going about
  • 08:37 the business of getting a civilization here in the New
  • 08:39 World where there's a biblical mandate that is
  • 08:43 constitutive in the culture.
  • 08:45 And that's the difference here, by the way.
  • 08:48 If you look at nation-states all over the world, they all
  • 08:50 sort of began the same way: there's a struggle, and whoever
  • 08:53 wins puts up the fort and then claims it for their own.
  • 08:56 But while that could be said here, it's more than that here
  • 09:00 because inculcated in the fabric of this culture was biblical
  • 09:05 mandate, biblical vision, and it's represented in the
  • 09:10 literature, in the monuments, the art, the architecture,
  • 09:13 and so forth, and it's not just something that's part
  • 09:16 of an artistic ethos, but it was part of the fabric of
  • 09:20 those who were here making a stand in the New World.
  • 09:24 And you know, we can learn from the faith of our fathers too.
  • 09:27 If we can carry on some of that walking with faith, we too can
  • 09:31 have the success as they enjoyed, and who's the "they"?
  • 09:35 Well, I'm talking about those of old in this series where I'm
  • 09:38 speaking about the "Faith of our Fathers."
  • 09:43 ♪♪♪
  • 09:50 David: Show your support for Israel with the
  • 09:52 Pro-Israel package.
  • 09:53 In it, you will receive a 3-foot by 5-foot flag of Israel,
  • 09:57 four pro-Israel buttons, a "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"
  • 10:01 bumper sticker, the "Israel's Right to the Land!" booklet,
  • 10:05 the "Broken Branches" book by Zola Levitt, a
  • 10:07 two-flagged lapel pin, the "Pilgrims Map of the Holy Land,"
  • 10:12 and two "Stand with Israel" koozies.
  • 10:14 Contact us and ask for the Pro-Israel package.
  • 10:19 David: Join us right now for additional content that is only
  • 10:22 available on our social media sites: Facebook,
  • 10:25 Youtube, and Twitter.
  • 10:27 Visit our website, levitt.com, for the current and past
  • 10:30 programs, the television schedule, tour information, and
  • 10:34 our free monthly newsletter, which is full of insightful
  • 10:37 articles and news commentary.
  • 10:39 View it online or we can ship it directly to your
  • 10:41 mailbox every month.
  • 10:44 Also on our website is the online store.
  • 10:47 There you can order this week's resource, or you can always give
  • 10:50 us a call at 1-800-WONDERS.
  • 10:54 Your donations to "Our Jewish Roots" help us to support these
  • 10:57 organizations as they bless Israel.
  • 11:00 Please remember, we depend on tax-deductible donations from
  • 11:03 viewers like you.
  • 11:06 Jeffrey: Earlier, I spoke of John Hancock, and of course we
  • 11:10 know leaving the John Hancock, the signature.
  • 11:13 If you find value in what we do, please get out a piece of paper
  • 11:17 called a check and put your John Hancock on it.
  • 11:21 If you find value in what we do, please help us in the doing.
  • 11:26 I believe and we believe that we have diminished memory of the
  • 11:31 faith of our fathers.
  • 11:32 Help us to tell the story so the world may know.
  • 11:37 Kirsten: We want you to know that as a ministry, yes, we are
  • 11:39 a TV program, but we're also a ministry that supports other
  • 11:44 ministries, and those that are in Israel to be particular.
  • 11:49 We take two tours to the holy land a year, but also throughout
  • 11:53 the year, we give generously to those in Israel.
  • 11:57 Your dollar supports this TV program, but it also supports
  • 12:01 the believers in the holy land.
  • 12:04 That's an important part of our ministry, isn't it?
  • 12:06 Jeffrey: I think so.
  • 12:08 Kirsten: Let's step back in time now to Colonial America and
  • 12:11 consider the faith of our founding fathers.
  • 12:16 David: In the formative days of our nation, there
  • 12:18 were some who thought it important to remain
  • 12:20 loyal to the British king.
  • 12:22 Others rejected the monarchy, favoring liberty.
  • 12:25 Among them: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington,
  • 12:30 Ben Franklin, patriots all.
  • 12:33 They would boldly proclaim that the truths of liberty were
  • 12:37 self-evident and endowed by their Creator.
  • 12:41 Meanwhile, there were still others in Philadelphia, unknown
  • 12:45 figures in history, who considered the godly direction
  • 12:49 of the founding fathers vitally important.
  • 12:53 ♪♪♪
  • 12:58 clergyman: So clear and yet profound.
  • 13:03 Unless this house is built on solid ground,
  • 13:07 it will surely fail.
  • 13:10 But will we recall these precepts?
  • 13:15 We must.
  • 13:18 ♪♪♪
  • 13:22 Lord, please, please continue to guide my hand that I might
  • 13:27 clearly transcribe these extraordinary words of
  • 13:30 wisdom and virtue, and guide my steps this day
  • 13:35 to those who need to hear them.
  • 13:38 ♪♪♪
  • 13:45 ♪♪♪
  • 13:50 clergyman: Betsy, as you've probably already concluded,
  • 13:56 I hold these notes to be treasures.
  • 14:00 I value them as such because they are quotations from those
  • 14:04 who've been the most influential, I believe,
  • 14:09 in establishing the importance of faith and
  • 14:13 righteousness in America.
  • 14:15 Betsy Ross: Yes, sir.
  • 14:17 I appreciate your concern for the welfare of this nation.
  • 14:22 clergyman: It has taken considerable faith to have
  • 14:24 declared our independence.
  • 14:27 Betsy: I do have faith, sir, but I still keep my
  • 14:31 windows closed lest a loyalist see my efforts
  • 14:34 on behalf of the patriots.
  • 14:39 clergyman: Mr. Jefferson deserves to have his faith
  • 14:43 commended as well.
  • 14:45 He's been a dedicated, lifelong Anglican, and yet an advocate
  • 14:51 for other Christian denominations.
  • 14:55 He's repeated many times over, as have we all,
  • 14:59 the Apostles' Creed.
  • 15:02 both: "I believe in God the Father Almighty--"
  • 15:04 Betsy: "Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,
  • 15:07 his only Son, our Lord."
  • 15:11 I say it in church every Sunday, sometimes in the
  • 15:14 presence of Mr. Washington, Mr. Franklin, as well as
  • 15:18 others you have mentioned.
  • 15:22 clergyman: As you probably know, Mr. Jefferson has been placed on
  • 15:26 a committee of three to draft an official seal for our nation.
  • 15:32 In Jefferson's own words, he believes the seal should include
  • 15:37 a Bible account: the children of Israel in the wilderness, led by
  • 15:43 a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
  • 15:48 Betsy: The story of Exodus?
  • 15:51 He sees God's leading in America's journey like the
  • 15:55 journey of the children of Israel.
  • 15:58 clergyman: Yes, and he's not the only one.
  • 16:04 Many have seen God's hand in how far we've come thus far.
  • 16:09 Mr. Patrick Henry concurs: "Three millions of people
  • 16:14 armed in the holy cause of liberty are invincible
  • 16:18 by any force which our enemy can send against us.
  • 16:22 There is a just God who presides over the destines of nations,
  • 16:27 and who will raise up to fight our battles for us."
  • 16:33 Betsy: I do hope, sir, that someday the faith you speak of
  • 16:37 will guide our every step, that the winds of liberty will billow
  • 16:44 upon a flag high above us, that all will look towards heaven and
  • 16:49 honor our rich, godly heritage.
  • 16:55 ♪♪♪
  • 16:59 Jeffrey: So much to learn.
  • 17:01 So much has been lost.
  • 17:03 Our founding fathers were prolific
  • 17:06 authors, and you know what?
  • 17:08 Tens of thousands of those original documents exist, and
  • 17:12 our guest, David Barton, has assembled many of them.
  • 17:16 What a collection, and I'm glad that he and we can bring it to
  • 17:21 you as we take a look at the book, the good book, and see how
  • 17:26 biblical vision is part of the fabric of our founding fathers.
  • 17:33 Jeffrey: From the halls of Montezuma to the
  • 17:35 shores of Tripoli.
  • 17:37 Tripoli, what was the American military doing there?
  • 17:41 Well, Jefferson sent ships over there because Islamic sea
  • 17:47 captains were molesting American vessels.
  • 17:51 So much of history is lost, isn't it?
  • 17:54 David Barton: Yeah, the longest ongoing battle--war in
  • 17:57 American history was 32 years of fighting Muslims
  • 18:00 from 1784 to 1816.
  • 18:03 And so in that period of time, 1784, we did not have a navy.
  • 18:07 We had a temporary navy we used in the revolution.
  • 18:09 Now nobody's attacking us, we don't need a navy, and then we
  • 18:12 started being attacked by Muslim ships overseas.
  • 18:15 And so we would sail in the Mediterranean to our
  • 18:17 partners in--actually in Europe.
  • 18:20 Any time that the Muslims saw an American flag, that's
  • 18:23 a target ship, and so they went after our ships.
  • 18:26 They first killed our guys, but then started enslaving them and
  • 18:30 selling them back for ransom, and that's how they got a lot of
  • 18:33 money to finance their jihad was Americans paying 'em.
  • 18:37 Jeffrey: And someone said, "Enough already."
  • 18:40 It's interesting, I remember Ellison, when he was sworn in as
  • 18:43 a congressman, he wanted to be sworn in on a Qur'an, so they
  • 18:47 boasted, "We have Jefferson's Qur'an."
  • 18:50 Jefferson wasn't a Muslim.
  • 18:51 He had it as a souvenir.
  • 18:53 He was pressing against Islamic intrigue.
  • 18:55 David: Well, it's interesting that John Adams is the first
  • 18:58 founding father to have a navy.
  • 19:00 George Washington, 1795, 10% of the federal budget was being
  • 19:04 spent to pay Muslims not to attack America, so it's
  • 19:07 big extortion racket.
  • 19:09 So in 1795, George Washington said, "Would to God that I had a
  • 19:13 navy able to crush these enemies of mankind into nonexistence."
  • 19:17 They appropriated money, John Adams built the navy.
  • 19:19 He's called "the father of American Navy."
  • 19:21 But he would not send the navy against the Muslims
  • 19:23 because he had negotiated with them, he said,
  • 19:25 "If we attack these guys, there's gonna be a long battle.
  • 19:27 We're not fighting a geographic position, we're
  • 19:30 fighting an ideology."
  • 19:31 But when Jefferson took over, the budget's now 15% paying
  • 19:35 Muslim terrorists not to attack us.
  • 19:37 He said, "No, no, no," so he loaded up the Marines,
  • 19:39 put it on the brand-new navy, sent it over.
  • 19:41 We have five years of armed conflict across North Africa,
  • 19:44 and that's where you get the halls of Montezuma, shores of
  • 19:46 Tripoli, which is Libya today, we would call it Libya.
  • 19:50 So Jefferson, interestingly enough--these two guys, in 1786,
  • 19:54 they were both negotiating with Muslims.
  • 19:57 And at that point in time, Jefferson writes back to
  • 19:59 the state department, he said, "We created a relationship.
  • 20:02 I asked the Muslim ambassador, 'Why are you guys attacking us?
  • 20:04 We've never done anything to Muslims.'"
  • 20:07 And he said, "Well, the ambassador told me that
  • 20:10 it's required by the Qur'an that they have
  • 20:12 to attack us, subdue us, kill us, whatever."
  • 20:14 And it's like Jefferson has to go, "Wait a minute, you go to
  • 20:17 heaven for killing people?
  • 20:19 What kind of religion is this?"
  • 20:20 That's when Jefferson went out and bought that two-volume
  • 20:22 Qur'an in London, it's a 1764 Qur'an.
  • 20:25 He wanted to learn if they really did teach that.
  • 20:28 And so when Keith Ellison sworn on that, says, "This
  • 20:30 shows the great influence of the Qur'an on Jefferson," no.
  • 20:34 This is Sun Tzu, "Know your enemy."
  • 20:36 Know what your enemy says.
  • 20:37 Jeffrey: People lose sight of history.
  • 20:40 Well, what do you have for us here today?
  • 20:43 David: Well, we finished this episode talking about
  • 20:46 Patrick Henry, and Patrick Henry, a great
  • 20:48 orator, that last quote was from
  • 20:50 a speech that he gave in 1775.
  • 20:52 He was part of the Virginia legislature, which interestingly
  • 20:55 enough, the Virginia legislature was meeting in
  • 20:57 St. John's Church in Richmond.
  • 20:59 And that kinda blows people's mind today, but that was
  • 21:01 very common back then.
  • 21:03 And so he gave that great oration, and Patrick
  • 21:06 Henry's known as probably the best orator
  • 21:08 among the founding fathers.
  • 21:09 What people don't know is where he learned his oratorical
  • 21:12 skills, and he learned it by going to church.
  • 21:14 There's a guy named Reverend Samuel Davies.
  • 21:16 This is one of the sermons of Samuel Davies.
  • 21:18 Samuel Davies is called the greatest pulpit orator in
  • 21:21 American history.
  • 21:22 As a young boy, Patrick Henry went to his church every Sunday,
  • 21:26 and on the way home they would talk about the sermons.
  • 21:28 And Patrick Henry says, "I learned my speaking
  • 21:30 abilities from listening to the sermons--"
  • 21:32 Jeffrey: He said that.
  • 21:33 David: He said that, and so this is actually
  • 21:35 an early biography on Patrick Henry.
  • 21:37 It was done by the Attorney General of the United
  • 21:39 States, William Worth.
  • 21:40 So Patrick Henry was a great figure, but Jefferson was
  • 21:42 the other one that we looked at.
  • 21:44 And then we've already talked about where he was with Islam
  • 21:47 and the fight on Islam, but interestingly enough,
  • 21:50 Jefferson--and we heard so many quotes about him, Christ-related
  • 21:54 quotes, which is an interesting thing.
  • 21:56 People don't think about that.
  • 21:57 But Jefferson is the first president to have a full term in
  • 22:01 the White House in Washington, DC.
  • 22:02 First 11 years of the federal government was in New York City,
  • 22:05 then 10 years in Philadelphia, then we moved to DC.
  • 22:08 And so in DC, the federal government's in charge of city
  • 22:10 government and still is today.
  • 22:12 So that's a brand-new city.
  • 22:14 They need a school system.
  • 22:16 Jefferson actually is chosen as the president of the school
  • 22:19 board in Washington, DC.
  • 22:20 He turned down the presidency and said, "I'll be a school
  • 22:22 board member," so he originates the plan of education for public
  • 22:26 schools in Washington, DC.
  • 22:28 What folks don't realize that in his plan of education, the two
  • 22:32 reading books were Isaac Watts's hymnal and the Bible.
  • 22:36 Jeffrey: Amazing.
  • 22:37 David: That's what Jefferson had students reading in school.
  • 22:39 Isaac Watts's hymnal's where we get great hymns of the
  • 22:41 Christian faith; "Joy to the World" is one of his hymns.
  • 22:44 The other thing Jefferson did while he was there is
  • 22:47 we have a brand-new Capitol.
  • 22:48 Brand-new White House, brand- new Capitol, and so as they
  • 22:51 move in to the Capitol in November of 1800, by December
  • 22:54 the 4th, it's interesting.
  • 22:56 The records of Congress tell us that with Jefferson presiding
  • 22:59 over the Senate and Theodore Sedgwick over the House,
  • 23:01 they said, "Let's have church every Sunday in the
  • 23:04 House of Representatives.
  • 23:05 That's the biggest room we have in the building.
  • 23:07 And the Constitution, we don't work on Sundays."
  • 23:10 That's the Sunday Sabbath, it's called the
  • 23:11 Sundays Excepted Clause.
  • 23:13 So Jefferson helped start the church in the Capitol,
  • 23:16 and by 1867, that was the largest Protestant church
  • 23:19 in the United States.
  • 23:21 These are actually sermons that were preached in that church
  • 23:23 that Jefferson helped start.
  • 23:24 This says, "The imperishable and saving Words of Christ delivered
  • 23:27 in the hall of the House of Representatives."
  • 23:29 This is 1860.
  • 23:31 Jeffrey: Well, there you go, yeah, he was really big on
  • 23:32 separating church and state, wasn't he?
  • 23:35 David: And actually, he invited ministers to come preach at the
  • 23:38 Capitol, like the Reverend John Leland.
  • 23:41 Jefferson wrote that separation of church and state letter--
  • 23:44 Jeffrey: That's taken out of context, isn't it?
  • 23:46 David: It is, because on January the 3rd, two days later,
  • 23:48 he invites Reverend Leland to come preach at the Capitol.
  • 23:51 And that separation of church and state letter, if anybody
  • 23:53 reads it, it's 233 words long.
  • 23:55 It's three paragraphs, it's simple,
  • 23:57 and it says, "Because of the separation of church and state,
  • 23:59 the government's not going to stop a religious activity."
  • 24:02 Oh my gosh, we've got just the opposite today.
  • 24:04 Jeffrey: You know, that's why I'm so pleased to commend you
  • 24:07 and your ministry, you know, we have the website up--
  • 24:10 to help us understand the faith of our fathers.
  • 24:14 At the end of the day, we wanna tear it all down
  • 24:16 and rearrange history.
  • 24:17 Thank you for giving us a window into it.
  • 24:20 David: Oh, it's our pleasure, we feel like we should be
  • 24:22 sharing this stuff with Americans.
  • 24:24 That's why we try to digitize it, put it online.
  • 24:26 That's why we do so many books, bring it
  • 24:27 out so people can get it.
  • 24:29 This heritage belongs to all of us and is
  • 24:31 something we all should know.
  • 24:32 Jeffrey: Yes, and I believe that, that's one of the
  • 24:34 reasons why we want to share you with the world.
  • 24:37 Now, you don't need us to do your bidding, but if you're
  • 24:40 watching the program now and you're not familiar with our
  • 24:43 guest today, the website is up there and I want you to go there
  • 24:47 because there's a lot to learn.
  • 24:49 There's a lot to know, that we have been deceived.
  • 24:52 We've been tearing up our history, and David, I'm so
  • 24:55 appreciative of you wanting to help resurrect it.
  • 24:57 David: Jeff, my pleasure.
  • 24:58 Always fun to bring truth back to people.
  • 25:02 David Hart: All right, can I be honest with you right now?
  • 25:05 Honesty? Okay, you ready?
  • 25:07 We have been singing the Marine Hymn for years about the shores
  • 25:10 of Tripoli and we had no idea where that took place.
  • 25:14 But in the beginning of our discussion, we learned.
  • 25:17 The Mediterranean, that's where it took place.
  • 25:19 Jeffrey: People don't realize that America was involved in
  • 25:22 political intrigue with Islamic invaders early in the game.
  • 25:27 Kirsten: Well, David Barton mentioned the word "pirates."
  • 25:29 I mean, we don't even think of that as part of our history.
  • 25:33 And we say, you know, "To the shores of Tripoli,"
  • 25:37 and sometimes it's good to google things and go,
  • 25:39 "Where exactly is that?"
  • 25:41 Jeffrey: The Barbary pirates, and you know,
  • 25:43 even to this day in that part of the world, you
  • 25:46 do have nations that are nipping away at ships and kidnapping
  • 25:50 crews, and cargos, and the like, it still exists.
  • 25:53 Kirsten: And Thomas Jefferson mentioned, and we, you know,
  • 25:55 just thought this was so fascinating, that he had his
  • 25:59 Qur'an, but it was to learn about the religion so that
  • 26:03 when he's fighting these people for our freedoms, he
  • 26:06 knew what they believed, right?
  • 26:08 So he got--Thomas Jefferson kinda got a bad rap.
  • 26:13 Jeffrey: It really is interesting.
  • 26:14 And like you, when I learned that some years ago, it was
  • 26:16 like, "Wow, there's so many things I didn't know."
  • 26:19 Here's another one too.
  • 26:20 There's the Jewish underpinnings of the American Revolution, you
  • 26:26 know, that Islamic traders, pirates, were seizing assets,
  • 26:32 but Jews were giving assets.
  • 26:33 There was a financier, Haym Salomon.
  • 26:37 If individuals--if you would google "Haym Salomon,"
  • 26:40 that name--US Postal Service, 1976, 200 years after the
  • 26:46 celebration of independence in 1776, the US Postal Service
  • 26:51 minted a stamp to him, thanking this Jewish financier
  • 26:56 for helping to sponsor the American Revolution.
  • 27:00 That's another piece of interesting news, yes?
  • 27:02 Kirsten: And I'd had no idea.
  • 27:03 David: Right.
  • 27:05 Kirsten: We just learned something new, which is
  • 27:06 wonderful about a series like this is we think we
  • 27:09 know our history and our Judeo-Christian history,
  • 27:12 but there's a lot of things we don't know.
  • 27:14 Jeffrey: Jews came to this New World having been so
  • 27:18 oppressed in the old, hoping to build a better world and a
  • 27:22 culture that was being founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
  • 27:27 They knew people had an open Bible, and with it there was
  • 27:30 liberty to live and to breathe, and Jews saw hope
  • 27:34 in the New World.
  • 27:35 Kirsten: Well, we're thankful for everything that you've
  • 27:38 brought, should I say, to the table with knowledge and wisdom,
  • 27:41 and we're also so thankful for you, David Barton, for bringing
  • 27:44 your knowledge to this program.
  • 27:46 We have more next week.
  • 27:47 Jeffrey: Yeah, Barton's the hero, well, actually, you are
  • 27:49 the heroes for helping us tell the story.
  • 27:51 If you didn't give a dollar, we couldn't give a holler.
  • 27:54 Thank you.
  • 27:55 And a word from Scripture: [speaking in Hebrew]
  • 28:00 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
  • 28:04 CC by Aberdeen Captioning www.aberdeen.io 1-800-688-6621
  • 28:09 ♪♪♪
  • 28:18 ♪♪♪

Episodes in this series

  1. What is Faith
  2. Faith by Trial
  3. Faith in the Unseen
  4. Faith to Build a Nation Upon
  5. Faith in Our Leaders
  6. The Cost of Faith
  7. The Actions of the Faithful
  8. The Application of Faith

Links from this show

Guest organizations and links