The Impact Of The May Flower Compact
Article One Of This Series
By
Raymond Clarke
The United States of America, perhaps the greatest civilization ever to exist had its beginning with the advent of the May Flower Compact on November 12, 1620 almost four hundred years ago. Although we did not officially become a nation until some two hundred years later the seeds were planted which gave rise to a mighty nation which became the bastion of freedom for the entire world as the light of freedom spread, not only across America, but throughout the entire world. The hope of freedom, provided by America, reached the four corners of the globe. Sadly, some four hundred years later this light of freedom appears to be growing dim as America goes into decline. Not unlike the Holy Roman Empire, this decline started from within, and if unchecked, the continued existence of America as we have known her stands in doubt. Corruption from within brought down the Holy Roman Empire and today this same corruption threatens to bring America down.
We read in Isaiah 60: 12 “… For the nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted…”
Although our nation is still a Christian nation there are forces from within, obsessed with political correctness, who are moving to eliminate all vestiges of Christianity from our society. We as a nation have turned our backs upon almighty God and for that we shall pay a dear price, never doubt it.
It would be impossible to list all of the reasons or causes for the decline, but they all come under the name of “corruption”. To understand the problem(s) America faces today, we must go back to our early history to determine what made America great and why the apparent downfall we are beginning to experience today.
This nation has roots deeply entrenched in time which reaches back across the pages of history some three to four hundred years ago in a document known as the May Flower Compact. This land was indeed a new frontier inhabited largely by Native Americans, but it held great promise as a bastion of freedom, for all people around the world, perhaps the last bastion of freedom which will ever be available to us prior to the return of Jesus Christ.
First let us identify and explore exactly what it is that threatens this last, great bastion of freedom. It is the same thing which caused the fall of the Holy Roman Empire. “Corruption”. The American College Dictionary defines “corruption” as “…moral perversion, depravity, perversion of integrity, debasement…”. This brings me to the conclusion that corruption is nothing short of “spiritual deprivation”. Corruption, therefore, being a spiritual issue, will never bow to secular or physical solutions. IF IT IS INDEED A SPITITUAL ISSUE THEN THE PROBLEM WILL ONLY BOW TO A SPIRITUAL SOLUTION.
Unfortunately the powers to be, which we the people, elected to office, have rejected such a spiritual solution leaving us at the mercy of our corruption. We cannot, therefore legislate our way out of this “quagmire of filth and spiritual pollution” which has invaded our land. This is not to say that we do not need laws, rules or regulations to help guide our moral principles but this, in the absence spiritual integrity, will not solve our problems. This is perhaps why we see that our legislative bodies alone will never resolve the nation’s problems especially in the absence of “spiritual integrity”.
I do not know the origin of the following illustration but I got it from my Sunday School Teacher. It has been said that most civilizations last for approximately two hundred years. A civilization is usually born out of greed, corruption, depravity of men or perhaps “men in bondage”. Consider the illustration below. I am going to give this model a name for future references. I will call it “The Cycle of Civilizations”.
The Cycle of Civilizations”
Bondage Into Spiritual Faith
Spiritual Faith Into Courage
Courage Into Liberty
Liberty Into Abundance
Abundance Into Selfishness
Selfishness Into Complacency
Complacency Into Apathy
Apathy Back Into Bondage
Does this “Cycle of Civilizations” not seem to fit America exceptionally well? At what point on this cycle do we find ourselves today? The last two at minimum. Why or how have we reached such a low point? It is largely because the “Spiritual Foundation” undergirding this nation has collapsed, although Christianity is not dead in America. I care not how many of these so called politically correct pundits who proclaim or desire to proclaim this nation to be merely a secular nation. There are those who desire to undermine or destroy every vestige of Christianity from every aspect of our society. While they have and will create much damage, they can never succeed completely because Christianity lives in the hearts of men and can never be removed or destroyed, however, our freedoms as a nation can be destroyed by such foolish intervention when “we the people” fail to make a stand or when we fall into the latter part of the “Cycle of Civilizations”. Then and only then will those who stand firm upon their Christian Heritage be free because they will allow no man to take it from them. We must know and remember that those who choose to remain free may well pay a great price, however, they will remain free, even if imprisoned, when all others fall into bondage.
Let us now bring in the proof of our national heritage and learn once again of our Christian roots that we may know for a certainty that indeed America was founded, not upon religious principles, but America was founded upon Christian principles. Likewise let us understand that without a return to those underlying basic principles America will go down with many other civilizations which have ceased to exist perhaps never to rise again. Let us be assured that once America goes down there exist no further frontiers upon which our freedoms can ever rise again short of the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.
Although the apathy, the bondage, the complacency, etc. started long before the birth of this nation, gave rise to the birth of our great and wonderful nation exactly as illustrated by the “Cycle of Civilizations”. The unrest came out of the corrupted Church of England as the people realized that their freedom to worship as they desired was indeed a coming under assault, not unlike that which we are facing today as the “One World Church” looms heavily over our nation. Our churches today are being set up by the liberal movements found in many of our mainline Churches today for the one world Church takeover. Our nation marches lock-step straight into the hands of none other than Satan himself. We constantly face the reality of a one world government which threatens to destroy every vestige of freedom we have ever enjoyed. When this happens there will be no return. In short, I think we as a nation have had it, while those who remain true to their faith will remain free but perhaps at a great price!
The roots of this nation go back much further than the first visible move toward the rise of a new and independent nation on the shores of America, it officially started with the advent of a document which came to be known as the “May Flower Compact”. According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia the Mayflower Compact became the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists on board the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. It was written by a group seeking to practice “Christianity”, not religion, in accordance with their own desires outside the authority and influence of the Church of England.
According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia the Mayflower was originally bound for the mouth of the Hudson River, in land granted in a patent from the Crown to the London Virginia Company. The decision was made instead to land farther north, in what is now Massachusetts. This inspired some of the "strangers" (colonists who were not members of the congregation of religious dissenters leading the expedition) to proclaim that since the settlement would not be made in the agreed-upon Virginia territory, they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them...." To prevent this, many of the other colonists decided to establish a government which resulted with the May Flower Compact.
The Mayflower Compact reads as follows:
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 advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour 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 of 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 hereunder 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. Anno Domini 1620.
This historical document provides uncontested proof as to the origin of America as a nation founded upon Christian principles. As we get further into this series we will provide much more proof that America was founded strictly upon Christian principles and that our very Constitution as written by our forefathers intended and determined that America would become and remain a Christian Nation. It simply cannot be denied no matter how much the liberal pundits desire to eliminate the role of Christianity in the development of America.
