A President's Call for National Repentance and Prayer

President John Adams on the Need for Repentance and Prayer
A DAY OF FASTING & HUMILIATION, 1798

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES -

A PROCLAMATION -- 23 March, 1798.

As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and the blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety without which social happiness can not exist nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty or of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity, are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation by the unfriendly disposition, conduct, and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow-citizens while engaged in their lawful business on the seas - under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country demands at this time a special attention from its inhabitants.

I have therefore thought fit to recommend, and I do hereby recommend, that Wednesday, the 9th day of May next, be observed throughout the United States as a day of solemn humiliation, fasting, and prayer; that the citizens of these States, abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations, offer their devout addresses to the Father of Mercies agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming; that all religious congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before God the manifold sins and transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as individuals and as a nation, beseeching Him at the same time, of His infinite grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our offenses, and to incline us by His Holy Spirit to that sincere repentance and reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable favor and heavenly benediction; that it be made the subject of particular and earnest supplication that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it; that our civil and religious privileges may be preserved inviolate and perpetuated to the latest generations; that our public councils and magistrates may be especially enlightened and directed at this critical period; that the American people may be united in those bonds of amity and mutual confidence and inspired with that vigor and fortitude by which they have in times past been so highly distinguished and by which they have obtained such invaluable advantages; that the health of the inhabitants of our land may be preserved, and their agriculture, commerce, fisheries, arts, and manufactures be blessed and prospered; that the principles of genuine piety and sound morality may influence the minds and govern the lives of every description of our citizens and that the blessings of peace, freedom, and pure religion may be speedily extended to all the nations of the earth.

And finally, I recommend that on the said day the duties of humiliation and prayer be accompanied by fervent thanksgiving to the Bestower of Every Good Gift, not only for His having hitherto protected and preserved the people of these United States in the independent enjoyment of their religious and civil freedom, but also for having prospered them in a wonderful progress of population, and for conferring on them many and great favors conducive to the happiness and prosperity of a nation.

Given under my hand the seal of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, this 23d day of March, A.D. 1798, and of the Independence of the said States the twenty-second.
By the President : JOHN ADAMS.

Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah!

Hallelujah, praise Jehovah, O my soul, Jehovah praise;

I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days.

Put no confidence in princes, not for help on man depend;

he shall die, to dust returning, and his purposes shall end.

Happy is the man that chooses Israel's God to be his aid;

He is blessed whose hope of blessing on the Lord his God is stayed.

Heav'n and earth the Lord created, seas and all that they contain;

He delivers from oppression, righteousness He will maintain.

I was privileged to sing Psalm 146 in Boston last week at the Reformation 500 event hosted by Vision Forum. I'm standing here by Charlie Zahm, balladeer exceptional.

(photo credits: Anna Friedrich)

Food He daily gives the hungry, sets the mourning pris'ner free,

raises those bowed down with anguish, makes the sightless eyes to see.

Well Jehovah loves the righteous, and the stranger He befriends,

helps the fatherless and widow, judgment on the wicked sends.

Hallelujah, praise Jehovah, O my soul, Jehovah praise!

I will sing the glorious praises of my God through all my days.

Over all God reigns forever, through all ages He is King;

unto Him, thy God, O Zion, joyful hallelujahs sing.

AMEN!

(copied from the Trinity Hymnal, p. 53, published by Great Commission Publications. This selection was taken from the 1912 Psalter, the tune arranged by Lowell Mason in 1829, from a Gregorian chant entitled 'Ripley.')

(I'm singing this psalm in the photo above in San AntonioTX, at the SA Independent Film Festival in January of this year.)

Link to purchase (95 cents) my recording of this psalm--(for some reason, they chose to sample the men's chorus rather than my voice) at Behemoth.com:
http://www.behemoth.com/search/hallelujah%2C+praise+jehovah/

Empathy, Impartiality, and Justice - Vision Forum Ministries

Joe and Bob Renaud on the Island of Iona in July of 2008.







“[Sotomayor] thinks that her job is to ‘empathize’ with the parties before her as opposed to judging ‘in righteousness.’”







Bob Renaud is in his final year of law school at the Oak Brook College of Law. He has authored or co-authored numerous articles, including a published law review article, dealing with law and public policy issues. He is currently writing a book on the proper understanding of the separation of church and state.

[My guest blogger for this post is our friend, Bob Renaud, who is in his last year of law school. Bob's excellent article appeared first on the Vision Forum web site recently. He is a prime example of how we moms hope our sons and brothers will grow up -- focused, smart, intuitive, a true Christian gentleman, a dapper dresser, and above all, devoted to pursuing a deeper understanding of God's Word and how to consistently apply it to all of life. (And, by the way, he's still single if you are an available, godly young lady ... oops, I think I'm in trouble for that unpaid advertisement!)]

President Barack Obama was just past his first “100 days in office” when David Souter’s retirement gave him the opportunity to submit his first Supreme Court nominee to Congress. He had been planning for this moment. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama explained what he would look for in a nominee to the high court:

"We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor, or African American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that’s the criteria by which I’m going to be selecting my judges.”[1]

President Obama reiterated his commitment to “empathy” last week when he commented on Justice Souter’s resignation. He promised to seek someone “who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook.” Apparently, to President Obama, a basic understanding of the plain text of the Constitution is now “abstract legal theory.” But empathy, he says, will produce justice.

Once again, President Obama has demonstrated that the “change we can believe in” is not the change we need in this country. What we need is a change towards constitutional and biblical fidelity.

Writing in 1833 in his famous Commentaries on the Constitution, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story explained that empathy is not the same as justice. Justice must be “freely, fully, and impartially administered.” Without impartial justice, “neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence.”[2]

By seeking to nominate to the high court, judges who “got the heart, the empathy” — as opposed to judges who are faithful to the law of the land — we are heading toward that “state of savage and barbarous independence” that Justice Story warned about. That was two centuries ago. Justice Story wasn’t the first.

Writing 3,500 years ago in the book of Leviticus, the ultimate Law-giver explained the proper role of judges:

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour (Leviticus 19:15).

In this text of Scripture, there is no reference to how judges feel about a matter, or how judges should “empathize” with the parties to the case, or even how judges should use their own ethnic background to decide the matter before the bar. The command is to “not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty.” Not feel their pain!

Contrary to what the ACLU or even the president himself might want, our legal system has codified this biblical command not to respect either the “poor” or the “mighty” in our own republic. The United States Code prescribes the oath that all federal justices or judges are to swear or affirm before performing their duties. The oath states:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [job title] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.[3]

President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, was picked for her empathy rather than her impartiality. In fact, Judge Sotomayor has a record of showing partiality both in her written opinions and as well as outside the courtroom.

In a 2001 speech at the University of California at Berkeley, Judge Sotomayor said that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.” She went on to declare that “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
Fast forward to 2008, where we see how Judge Sotomayor applies her judicial philosophy of “empathy” in the case of Ricci v. DeStefano (now before the U.S. Supreme Court). In that case, local firefighters in New Haven, Connecticut, took an examination in hopes of getting promoted. When the results came out, the majority of those who took the test and passed were “white.” The town decided to disregard that exam. The firefighters who passed the test were passed up for promotion, and they sued the town for reverse discrimination. On appeal to the Second Circuit Court where Judge Sotomayor sits, Judge Sotomayor refused to examine the issues of the “white” firemen and threw out the case. So much for Judge Sotomayor’s “empathy” for both sides.

And finally, one cannot forget the gaffe committed in 2005 in which Judge Sotomayor explained at a Duke Law School forum that it is at “the court of appeals is where policy is made.” Isn’t that the job of the legislature? Judge Sotomayor caught her mistake and quickly said, “We don’t make law, I’m not promoting that, I’m not advocating that, you know.” However, you have to ask yourself, how does an “extremely qualified” judge make a mistake like that?

Jesus Christ said that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
I think it’s clear where Judge Sotomayor’s heart is — she thinks that her job is to “empathize” with the parties before her as opposed to judging “in righteousness . . . thy neighbour.” And this is why she is disqualified to be our next U.S. Supreme Court justice.

1. A widely quoted 2007 speech that then Sen. Obama gave to Planned Parenthood. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/supreme-court/2009/05/obamasempathystandard_drawin.html?hpid=news-col-blog
2. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/preambles21.html
3. Title 28 chapter 21 § 453.

Bob was an able and amiable companion on our Scotland expedition last June/July...here, we are rejoicing that we are realizing a life-long dream: we're on the ancient Isle of Iona off the mainland coast of Scotland.

"A Highlander Parson Named Joe"

I received an 'anonymously' written poem from an admirer of my husband this morning and thought you may enjoy reading it...my warmest thanks go out to the author of this masterpiece!

The Highlander Parson Named Joe

Antiquity boasted its Augustine,

And England had her Tyndale,

The Puritans, Foxe, and the Scots had Knox,

But for the best listen to my tale.

The last real Frenchman was Calvin,

The rest of them moved to the States,

Although Lafayette made a good show of it,

Madame Guillotine finished his mates.

En Deutschland, sie haben Bach und Luther,

Uber alles, sie est zehr fantastisch

But compared to our “am besten Held”

Zie “Fatherland” is simply cold fish.

In America, our heroes ain’t dandies,

They don’t come from blue blood or pedigree,

And they’re just as liable to quote you the Bible,

Then boast of a Latin degree.

In general, they shun the big cities,

With all their pomp and great fuss,

They prefer the quiet of country life,

And a pickup truck to a bus.

They hunt from the trees like savages,

And roast their kill au jus,

But they’ll clean up for church on Sunday,

And put away mead and their hooch.

It’s from this stock comes our hero,

With his thick “Shakespearian” drawl.

And his powerful frame puts the fairies to shame,

And makes the “enlightened” crawl.

It’s not that he’s brash or a bully,

He really is quite a nice fellow,

A preacher, by trade, without the parade,

And bold as a lion—but not yellow.

He comes from the hills and the mines,

He’s the pride of Appalachia,

And sure as Pete, he has all his teeth.

Which for Rednecks --a feat let me tell ya!

But, oh, when that man mounts the pulpit,

And opens the Word to be read,

The congregation grows silent,

As the preacher in black bows his head.

And the powerful man from the mountains,

With eloquence to rival the Sages,

Trembles at each inspired verse,

As tears trickle on the pages.

His name, you would think from this tale,

Is descended from kings clad in mail,

But truth be told, the man we know,

Is the Highlander Parson named Joe.

--Anonymous (MC)

May 2009

"Quit Work To Help Your Husband" - Thanks, we're ahead of this curve.

This photo of Joe and me was taken at the home of Matt and Jennie Chancey, fall '07. Jennie was pregnant with her eighth baby and prepared a full seven-course meal with all the trimmings for a dinner for 15 that was the culmination of a week-end Matt planned in honor of my husband! They made a great team! A few months later, Matt delivered the baby--Jennie didn't make it to the hospital--great teamwork put to the ultimate test!!!

(Guest host of my blog is my dear friend, Jennie Chancey. I copied this entry from her excellent blog, Ladies Against Feminism. Link to it and read her posts to garner needed strength and encouragement as we wage our daily battles against the world, the flesh and the devil!)

By Mrs. Chancey

May 9, 2009 - 6:08:34 PM

A LAF reader shared a link to a story about Michelle Obama quitting her high-paying job to support her husband's run for the presidency and to serve as stay-at-home First Lady. While we're definitely not fans of the Obama administration and its liberal, socialist policies, this article shines the spotlight on something very important: the notion that a wife is invaluable to her husband's success and that an intelligent, savvy helpmate really does play an irreplaceable role in the family. Here's a sampling from the original piece:

It’s not what Germaine Greer and her ilk had in mind for this generation of highly educated, successful, independent women. But it’s a lifestyle choice at the heart of a new theory expounded in Megan Basham’s book, Beside Every Successful Man. The title is not just a trite twist on the familiar concept behind every successful man; it has much greater meaning than that. Basham argues that by using all your talents, skills, education and qualifications, you can make your husband’s career a stellar success, and your family life spectacularly happy. We’re talking an equal professional partnership, where the woman gets the best of both worlds — enjoying using her honed professional skills to enhance her husband’s career, but at the same time having the freedom and pleasure of spending more time with her children.

I realise Basham’s theory feels like taking a cheese grater to the most precious principles of feminism — independence, autonomy, equality, self-development, career. But let’s face it, whose life-work balance would you rather have: Michelle Obama, constantly extolling the joys of being in a strong partnership with a man doing something important, even as she enjoys her children; or Cherie Booth QC, the hard-done-by career woman famously complaining about the hardships of juggling family and career? Basham, an American author, dyed-in-the-wool feminist and successful career woman earning significantly more than her husband, explains it this way. ‘What my friends had in common is that they left school planning to spend most of their adult years working in their chosen fields, and expecting always to derive a lot of satisfaction from their careers.‘Several years ago, I started to notice that among many of us, as other areas of our lives expanded, the enjoyment we derived from our jobs began to shrink. Work began to seem more like an intrusion on our real lives than a vital part of it.’ She and her successful career girlfriends wanted to spend more time enjoying being mothers and wives. But there was a financial imperative as they were all fully paid-up members of the two-income economy.‘We realised we had to start looking at our dilemma from a new angle, and to start seeing our marriages as our own little business enterprises and our husbands as partners in that enterprise.’

As so often happens, Basham says a book changed her life — in her case, David McCullough’s biography of America’s second President, John Adams. ‘While everyone else was caught up by the relationship between Adams and Jefferson and Washington, I was fascinated by the relationship between Adams and his wife. He relied on her in almost every aspect of his work — and in the midst of the goal-setting and strategic planning they wrote each other intimate, teasing and tender love letters that revealed the sweet partnership they had in all things.’This feminist author is experiencing an eye-opening revelation -- but it's one that most of us stay-at-home wives and mothers have known and lived for years. If we've said it once, we've said it a hundred times: a homemaker is not a drudge, a housekeeping automaton, a doll, or arm candy. A wife of vision understands that what she does impacts her family now and in the long term. None of the epiphany experienced by Basham comes as a surprise to women who embrace Proverbs 31 and live it to the fullest. A husband and wife dedicated to a single vision are far more effective and powerful than a divided household where each half pursues its own interests and goals. This is why a wife who submits to her husband's vision and leadership is anything but a doormat--she is a powerhouse for serious, long-term success.
As wives, homemakers, and mothers, we get the most fulfilling, well-rounded "career" imaginable. We wear many hats, all of which have been laid out in Scripture for thousands of years. To us, they're second-nature. So it's a little amusing to see a "dyed-in-the-wool" feminist "discovering" truths that most of us have just practiced quietly for years--all while being ridiculed, put down, sneered at, or mocked as "baby machines," mindless drones, slaves, and all manner of other ridiculous invectives.All I have to say is, "Welcome to our world, Mrs. Basham." Here at LAF, we've been proclaiming for years the beauties and benefits of supporting our husbands, educating the next generation, running hospitable households, caring for the needy, and, yes, even running successful home businesses that involve our children and allow us to use our God-given talents in an amazing variety of ways. Abigail Adams has long been a model for homemakers. No matter how the feminists tried to twist her into a closet women's libber, we knew the truth.

We've read the letters she and her husband wrote each other. We've seen Abigail as a Proverbs 31 heroine for years. She understood that God created man to need woman--and for far more than simple physical companionship. We are truly the other half of the whole, and when both halves work together, the results are astounding. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says it best: "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up."When women work for their own husbands and make their own families successful, they enjoy all the benefits and none of the heartaches of the nonsensical work-family "balance." Being a part of a family is work. And it's hard work. But it's rewarding because it is done for and with our own kith and kin. We aren't selling our labor to strangers or working thankless hours to please a man we don't love. Choosing to make our husbands successful means we enjoy the rewards of work and family at the same time--no balancing act required other than the ordinary everyday decisions about priorities and goals that are a normal part of life. The article continues:


Basham says this working partnership also means abandoning a few precious feminist precepts. ‘Some aspects of feminism encouraged women to treat their husbands as rivals and their homes as battlegrounds where couples questioned whether they were both doing the same proportion of the dishes and the earning. ‘So yes, it does mean biting the bullet and taking care of the household chores that stop him from earning. It doesn’t mean you have to do them yourself (by all means hire help), but your role is to free his time so he’s spending more time making money.’And while much of this argument may feel like an excuse for women to stay at home, she argues it is far from it. It extols and explains the fiscal and personal rewards to be gained if a woman should choose to give up her career and place her professional skills alongside those of her husband. It becomes like a two-man business, a partnership. He may get the public acknowledgement, but she gets the benefits of a significantly improved family income because he’s better at his job — plus, if she seeks it, the joy of spending more time at home being a wife and mother. In Basham’s conclusion, she returns to John Adams’s wife Abigail, whom she takes as her strongest role model. ‘Her strength, confidence, intelligence and eloquence were nearly as significant to her husband’s success as his own were. Adams so clearly valued his wife’s insight, and cherished her companionship, that there could be no question of her being anyone’s lackey.’ They eventually grew to become ‘almost one soul in two bodies’. [Emphasis mine.]Finally! A feminist comes around to see that a marriage is a genuine partnership--a mingling of souls and not just a joining of bodies. The wife at home is a real, significant help to her husband. She can be CFO, COO, nutritionist, master chef, teacher, gardener, photographer, artist, musician--you name it. The scope is as wide and deep as the talents and abilities God has given her, because there is an outlet for every single skill she can put to use. And what can be better than working for a man who not only appreciates your work but can love you for it? It really is an incredible life, and we're glad at least some feminists are finally seeing the light.

Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also , and he praises her: Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates. ~ Proverbs 31:28-31
© Copyright 2002-2009 by LAF/BeautifulWomanhood.org

photo of Matthew Chancey and his eldest son, John Nathan, Jamestown, 2007

Your Opportunity to Study Under One of the Great Reformation Scholars of Our Day On One of the Most Important Topics of 2009

Doug's Blog: Your Opportunity to Study Under One of the Great Reformation Scholars of Our Day On One of the Most Important Topics of 2009

500 years ago a man was born whose work would help spearhead the doctrinal foundation of the Reformation and establish the Scriptural foundation for liberty in the West. His name was John Calvin, and he was one of a small, determined army of Christians who turned the world upside down by explaining the true implications of a Christian worldview.

Your children need to know about this man, and the men and movements of the Reformation which built the best elements of Western Christendom.

But it is one thing to read a book, and it is another to have Calvin and his comrades come alive as you study under one of the foremost scholars of the Reformation in America. For four decades, Dr. Joe Morecraft has been studying, writing, preaching, and defending the lives and testimonies of these heroes of Christendom. I have listened to thousands of CDs and teaching tapes in my life and Dr. Morecraft is hands down the finest church history teacher I have heard. For Dr. Morecraft, teaching is not simply an exercise in training the next generation, it is an expression of love of Christ and honor to the heroes of the past. His lectures are thoroughly researched, plain and simple to understand, full of passion, and rife with practical application.

He is simply the best, and this may be your only opportunity to study underneath him.
You might want to drive many miles to learn from this great man, but now you can learn directly from him with the click of a button using our live Internet course.

Dr. Morecraft’s works include How God Wants Us to Worship Him: a Defense of the Bible as the Only Standard for Modern Worship, and his soon-to-be published magnum opus, Authentic Christianity: An Exposition of the Theology and Ethics of the Westminster Larger Catechism. Pastor Morecraft holds a B.A. in history from King College in Bristol, Tennessee, a M.Div from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, and a M.Th. and Th.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary.
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Grace Notes: Doug's Blog: Press Release: Alamo City Tea Party: Phillips Calls Attendees to Honor our Fathers and Seek the Lord

Grace Notes: Doug's Blog: Press Release: Alamo City Tea Party: Phillips Calls Attendees to Honor our Fathers and Seek the Lord