Thanksgiving Blessings: The Connection of the Reformation to the Early American Colonies

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and as Thanksgiving rolls around, we're taking a moment to look back and see the role the Reformation played in the early origins of America. It was quite a large one, in fact, as The History Channel so pointedly declared on a program about this event: “Without the Protestant Reformation there would be no America.” Quite a statement, so let’s take a look at some of the background:

Though it took some time, the Protestant Reformation eventually began to spread into England during the 16th century. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses had hit the nail on the head among the European population regarding the abuses of the Catholic Church, and an outcry and demand for reform began to spread to many places.

As a desire for a return to New Testament-based Christianity crossed the Channel into England, Cambridge University began to be known as “The Little Wittenberg” because topics like Luther, the New Testament, and teaching on grace and faith, were so commonly being discussed there.

Amongst those converted to Christ during this time was a Catholic priest named William Tyndale who would, like Luther, champion reform and go on to translate the New Testament into a language that people could actually read (the Catholic Church had said, on pain of death, that the Bible was only to be in Latin, a long dead language even then). Tyndale himself transferred from Oxford to Cambridge because of the openness to reform there. He would end up giving his life for his endeavor of translating the Bible into English and was martyred.

Diverse Protestant groups arose in England including a revival movement called the Puritans. The name did not imply they were trying to be purer than others but rather they sought a return to the pure teaching of the New Testament and sought to purify the Church of unbiblical teachings and papal abuses.

Puritans held to the same basic evangelical core beliefs of most reformed believers: Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, the only mediator between God and man; the same fundamental New Testament belief that had brought Luther to his conversion after reading the New Testament.

The Puritans, however, also taught that Christ must dwell in, and fill the heart of the believer, mere acquiescence to a doctrinal statement wasn’t sufficient. Christ must dwell in our hearts for mere head knowledge doesn’t replace that living relationship. They thus sought to walk with Christ and were amongst what you could call the first Protestant mystics.

Puritans and their name, however, have been mostly misrepresented; for example:

They were not prudish, dourly dressed prigs, but were actually known to embrace the fashion of the times, and in the colonies often dressed very colorfully.

Also, contrary to popular thought, they were not uptight killjoys who preached against sex, but actually were the first Protestant group to openly espouse that the sexual union between man and wife is a gift of God to be enjoyed with pleasure. They disdained the false concept from Catholicism that sexual union in marriage was only for procreation and a sin if you enjoyed it. Sex, between a married man and woman, was a gift from God to be enjoyed in the bonds of matrimony. They typically had hordes of children as a result.

Furthermore, they despised the Catholic notion that celibacy was some kind of higher calling or that one was more holy by being celibate rather than being married. Christ’s blood alone cleanses us from sin, and makes anyone who believes on Him holy before the Father, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, by grace through faith alone! Nothing more and nothing less! (Rom 3:21, Eph 2:8-10, Heb 10:10)

England felt less tolerant to the Puritans as time went on and a group of them sought to find freedom to worship as they saw fit and departed for the New World on a ship called the Mayflower in 1620.

Once across the sea, they dedicated their new colony “to the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith” in their compact when they reached the shores of Plymouth, even before disembarking the ship and stepping foot on the new world, setting down roots that are clearly Christian!

Historian Latourette says that the Protestant movements that came to early America sought to incorporate Luther’s Protestant teaching on the priesthood of all believers into the basic ethic of life—equality for all—something that had been completely foreign in old feudal Europe, and foreign to the elitism that was intrinsic in heirarchical Catholic religious system .

This concept of human equality before God that Luther drew from the New Testament became a concept in the later American Constitution: “All men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” Historian Sydney Ahlstrom estimates that 70% of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Puritan stock.

We were blessed to visit the Puritan church where Benjamin Franklin himself was baptized, while in Boston on a trip a little while ago. It caused us to reflect on such a historical place, looking around there and at the Boston Common, where massive crowds would gather during the revival in the early colonies to hear the preaching of George Whitfield. Benjamin Franklin himself was fascinated by this phenomenon and measured the crowds at approximately 25,000 people who came out to these revival meetings!

Another Historical Moment

We also had another very historical moment just recently in Germany:

October 31st, 2017 was the 500-Year Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We were blessed to be in Wittenberg, Germany, for the quincentennial celebration.

The little town ended up being packed with people from all over the world for the celebration of this very momentous event. We ended up having to stay in another town because everything had been booked up far in advance with all the people visiting for the big event.

We were stoked to find out the place we were staying had bikes to rent at a very reasonable price. We figured the 35 mi (56 km) round trip adventure would be good exercise after so many planes, trains, and automobiles on this trip.

So we got up early on the 31st and started biking towards Wittenberg. We passed through some quaint little German towns and farms and enjoyed taking in the sights; however, it seemed like every last store and place of business we passed was closed. We found out later that Oct 31st had been declared a national holiday for all of Germany for the first time in its history.

Then, as we were getting closer to Wittenberg, a huge group of black cars and police with a helicopter hovering overhead, passed by us. We hadn’t known that the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, would be heading into the Reformation city for a special service. Because we were on bikes we got a unique view of all this as we rode in.

It was a blessed time to be there and we had lots of divine appointments with many different people whom we shared with and prayed for as we were equipped to share quotes from Luther and the Bible about the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit!

There were many special events going on, including many special museum exhibitions, as well as a sound and light show, and a huge panorama exhibition on Luther and the town of Wittenberg by a well-known artist. There was also a big musical play about Luther in Berlin which was broadcast nationwide and actually quoted many Bible verses throughout!

It was quite a unique moment for sure and we believe the Lord was using this occasion to plant many seeds in people’s lives about the Gospel as well as draw many to Himself!

Historical Reflection

Luther is often called the "accidental revolutionary" because of the amazing chain of events that were set in motion by this then unknown monk in a little insignificant town who was touched by the Holy Spirit as he read the truth of the Gospel in the Scriptures. That truth reverberated throughout the land and even crossed the sea with those early Pilgrims coming to the New World, a place that would later be called the United States of America.

For further study:

• Martin Luther and the Reformation video playlist on YouTube
• The Protestant Reformation video playlist on YouTube

Plymouth's Pilgrims and Their Christian Faith

FOLLOWING THE REFORMATION TRAIL

Using some airline miles we were able to start our last trip off by going first to the East Coast of the US for just a small extra fee—“you’re using miles we must charge you something.”

I kept thinking, “I can't believe we got all the way across the country for just 15 bucks, wow, not a bad deal!"

So we were able to stop in New England and see some historical places along the way as we started on our latest mission trip to Europe before we ministered in Scandinavia, England, and France.

One place we visited was in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrims from the Mayflower ship landed in 1620 and started the first sustaining colony in the New World.

A couple of other colonies had been attempted, one in Jamestown that ended with most of the colonists starving or freezing to death and the colony folding. There was also another attempt  at a colony by the French actually, at a Protestant colony called Fort Caroline in what would later become the area of Florida.

That French colony was planted and financed by an influential French Protestant Huguenot sympathizer. However, rabid Spanish Catholic fanatics got wind of it, and led by Don Pedro Menendez De Aviles, they went in and put to the sword and massacred every last person, including women and children.

So, one was facing some pretty stiff odds to attempt another colony: possible starvation, death by freezing, or massacre, none being attractive prospects. That, along with the dangers of crossing the Atlantic, surely would give one pause about leaving the homeland to go and found a new place to live in a wild land across the sea.

Persecution, however, was increasing against those who were fully embracing the Protestant Reformation in England.

The English Church had made some reforms: First under Henry the VIII, but especially under his son Edward when he took the throne; however, when Bloody Mary rose to power, she returned with a literal vengeance back to Catholicism and had Protestants hunted down and executed. Included in her massacres was the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, amongst many others.

The country would turn back Protestant under her half sister Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn, but her successor King James from Scotland was indifferent to reform. Even though he had authorized a new translation of the Bible into English, King James was no friend of the Puritans and had no tolerance for them, even though many were beginning to win seats in Parliament.

Those, like the Puritans, who wanted a full reformation, found themselves on the outs (the word Puritan came from their desire to purify the church back to New Testament design).

So, in spite of the grim prospects, the Mayflower set off from England in 1620 after its occupants had tried Holland for a time as a refuge from persecution. These Puritans, Separatists, and Independents aboard the Mayflower, were products of the Protestant Reformation and were under threat as Reform-minded believers in England, who wanted a full Reformation and not half measures.

They were part of the Reform movement, which was a return to biblical faith that was going on in Europe in their day, sparked originally by the influences of people like Martin Luther in Germany. It is remarkable what a chain of events were set in motion when that little unknown monk in Germany named Martin Luther found peace with God and set out to communicate about that. The History Channel recently said in a program on the Reformation and its worldwide impact “without Martin Luther and the Reformation there simply would be no America.”

The Reformation’s influence finally came across the channel to England and grew with William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, and others on England’s soil, when those reformers were touched by the Holy Spirit and given revelation of the Gospel.

The Puritans had been a revival movement in England that was sparked by the Reformation. They held to the main principles of the Reformation: salvation by faith through grace, through Christ alone, the Scriptures as the sole authority for matter of faith—no pope nor priest had the right to contradict God’s word.

The Puritans, however, also felt that Christ must touch the heart; mere head knowledge alone about God was not sufficient in their view. Mere cerebral acquiescence to a set of doctrines could not substitute for the reality of experiencing God’s touch in the heart. As stated by historian Sydney Ahlstrom, they could be seen as some of the early Protestant mystics.

They sought to purify and return the church back to a New Testament model like in Acts. There were those Puritans that wanted to reform from within the English Church, and those that wanted to separate (Separatists) or be completely independent (Independents). All of these Puritans though, sought as they put it, to “avoid the errors of popery in the new world.”

Like most movements and denominations, they did get formal later in their history; however, early on, they were vital, alive, and revived!

Those that came across the Atlantic were heavily influenced by the Puritan preachers in England and their focus on the Great Commission.  They were thus inspired and willing to face starvation and brutal winters even with the knowledge of how miserably those before them had suffered and how so many had died.

They were taking quite the huge step of faith. Imagine leaving everything to go to a desolate wilderness where most before you had either starved, or frozen to death, or been massacred.

A quick look at the winter Boston experienced last season with all that snow dumped every few days will give you an idea of just how rough it really could get. We happened to grab a few waves in Maine, and man, that is some very cold water and air over on the East Coast of America and that was not even in winter!

The Puritans came in spite of all the dire prospects, moved by the Great Commission and the hope for freedom to worship as they desired. Another large group of Puritans came across later to what would become Boston, as well as other areas a decade later, making up large parts of the population of the early colonies.

Thus, the Puritan revival movement and its influence loomed large in the early colonies. Their influence would continue to be visible in later revivals through people like Jonathan Edwards in the Great Awakening. Benjamin Franklin himself would be baptized in a Puritan church in Boston.

Coming across the Atlantic, these Puritan Pilgrims, contrary to what you may have been taught in school, actually sought to advance the Gospel in the new world and spread the Christian faith.

In fact their written statement on the Mayflower, which they called a Compact that they drew up and signed aboard the Mayflower declared that they were undertaking the new colony: “…for ye glorie of God and advancement of ye Christian faith…”

“…advancement of ye Christian faith…” is pretty straightforward. The earliest settlers came here and founded the first sustaining colony as believers with a prophetic intention that it would work in God’s design as a place that would advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That original purpose and prophetic intention still remains over this land in spite of all the attack to undermine, and obscure, and blind people, from that truth. 

Through the Holy Spirit’s power we are still to carry that prophetic intention forth and see this land, that has experienced so much revival in the past, be revived again!

Video: Plymouth's Pilgrims and their Christian Faith
Direct link to video: https://youtu.be/xRM3-jqexe0
(We shot this video on location in Plymouth, MA.
It is packed with some good information. Check it out!)

Happy Fourth of July!-- America's Reformation and Revival History

Hope you have a great Fourth of July!  While most of us are busy enjoying fireworks or a barbeque or something of that sort, it is important to pause a moment afterwards, hopefully you take a moment to reflect and read a bit here, and think a little bit about what exactly led up to the birth of one of the most unique nations in history.

One angle not talked about much regarding this topic is just how much the Protestant Reformation is tied into the birth of America. The secular "History Channel" recently did a program that declared: “without Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation there would be no America!”  Pretty startling but true words from a secular institution, words that we should take a look at and see the reality of what happened:

At the signing of the declaration of Independence, according to renowned historian Sydney Alhstrom, 75% of the signers of that history-making and trailblazing declaration were of Puritan background, the others were mostly Separatists and Quakers.

All of them: Puritans, Separatists, and Quakers, are products of the Protestant Reformation.  This points to the enormous impact and influence the Protestant Reformation—a movement that Martin Luther unintentionally started when he refused to bow down to men’s traditions, instead choosing to stand firm on the Word of God alone—had upon the very formation of the American Nation.   

The roots can be traced back to the enormous influence of the Word of God.  It was the Bible's very words of grace and mercy in the books of Romans and Galatians that brought Luther into his born-again experience.  This in turn led him to stand against the false teachings of penance and dead works for forgiveness that were taught by the Catholic church which was wedded to the state at that time. 

Luther's struggle with the condemnation he felt under the man-made system of rituals and dead works in the Catholic system led him to throw off the yoke that had been pushing his face down into the mud of condemnation for far to long.   When he finally came into the revelation of God’s grace he threw off that oppressive and tyrannical yoke of medieval Catholicism.  

A great throng throughout Europe who had had enough as well began to do the same.  This revelation of grace found in Scripture was so freeing and life-giving that Luther was thus willing to stand up against the tyranny of his day and speak the truth and he inspired others to do likewise.  He became more than willing to suffer the reproach of men and even face certain death and martyrdom that came with doing so (he was pronounced as a heretic and the church sought to have him put to death but the prince of his region abducted and hid him in a castle to spare his life.) 

In the process of standing up he directly influenced many others to do the same and to stand up for the truth, no matter what the cost, and a great Reformation began to spread throughout Europe. 

This willingness to throw off the yoke of tyrannical oppression followed suit later in the American colonies when they grew tired of the oppression and tyranny of the English monarchy, who wouldn’t even allow them to print a Bible in their own English language.  The first American English language Bible was printed in 1782 by the Congress of the United States after independence had been established.

When Luther took his stand  there was a ripple effect throughout Europe, including in Great Britain.  People like Thomas Cramner (archbishop of Canterbury) who were influenced by Luther began to turn back to the truth of the word of Scripture.  Though Cramner was later martyred for his faith, the Reformation spread throughout Great Britain and other like the Puritans adopted its principles.  In Scotland reformer John Knox also had come into the truth and he directly influenced the thinking of many early American revolutionaries. 

The Reformation in Great Britain spread in many ways and groups like Puritans who wanted to Purify the church were spawned.  The Puritans saw the need to have a life filled with the Spirit and felt tradition bound forms of worship just didn’t cut it.  They were pushed to the fringes of English society.   In time it led to this Protestant group coming to the New World seeking, amongst other things, freedom to worship as they saw fit.

America was discovered by an Italian who was underwritten by the Spanish, with many others like the Dutch and French finding their way here long before the English.  However, it would nevertheless be the English, and more specifically this unlikely group of English Christians known as the Puritans, that would have such an important influence on the formation of the emerging nation.

Though not the first on the scene by any means, it was in fact this large movement of English Puritans that began to come in more and more numbers and form colonies that would have the biggest impact with their Christian ideals, and would eventually have the greatest influence in the creation of a new independent nation.

Early Puritans were unique amongst Protestants in that they saw as essential the need for the work of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart and not just mere Bible knowledge for the head; they were thus known as some of the first “Protestant-Mystics.”

They came, willingly facing starvation, hardship, privation and even death. Why were these English Puritans so ready to suffer in this primitive and undeveloped land where other colonizers had given up and fled for their lives? According to historian Alhstrom it was for a very specific and yet simple reason:  They saw it as their duty to the Great Commission to come and establish the Gospel in this new land.  They saw it as a place they not only wanted to influence, but also where they would have the freedom to worship as they saw fit without the bounds, traditions, controls, and persecution of the Established Church.  

The moniker "Puritan" came from their desire not to be purer or holier than others—popular misconception notwithstanding—but rather it developed from their roots in the Reformation and their desire “to see the church purified from papal pollution of false doctrines and teachings and be brought back to New Testament foundations.”

Indeed their allegiance to the Great Commission caused them to see the New World as their mission field, and so they came and willingly suffered for the establishment of the Gospel in this land. 

America’s foundations have so much of the Christian faith running through them, much more than we have been told by the deceptive institutions of our day, like public schools, whose favorite activity seems to be to rewrite and redact history.   Rewriting history was one of the control tactics of the Communists, by the way, and especially Stalin, who actually said: “If we rewrite history we can control the people.”  Scary to think this what is going on in American public schools and universities in our day.  Stalin’s values have become the status quo as history is re-written in such a way as to expunge the reality of the Christian impact and influence on the history of the American nation.   Can anyone detect Satan’s hand in all this revisionism?

The awesome thing though is that when you just know a bit of what took place you see that “The Kingdom of God”, and “God's Word of Truth”, has impacted the US’s history far more for the good than we could ever imagine.

America not only had those like the Puritans come here early on in direct response to The Great Commission but it also had many revivals in its early days and through its history that set the tone for the foundation of faith that was laid.  These revivals made a huge mark on the early American frontier and set a tone of faith and belief in the truth that shaped the landscape of the early American experience.

Revivals like The Great Awakening and the Cane Ridge Revival shook and shaped things in a massive way.  Revivals have kept sweeping on throughout different periods as well, bringing salvation and the power of God to untold multitudes in the process.  Revivalist Charles Finney experienced a conversion and baptism in the Holy Spirit that led him to go throughout America and see great revival fire spread all over.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the great cloud of witnesses who went before us suffering to establish God's truth and influencing history to do the same.

Have a look at some of these video and audio programs we’ve done when you get a chance, doesn’t all need to be done in one day. In the meantime when you see, or have seen some fireworks, remember God’s fire made it all available.

* Reformation to America  (audio only--video is not yet ready for prime time play J )

* Martin Luther and the Reformation

* The Great Awakening

* The Cane Ridge Revival

* Charles Finney conversion and Baptism in the Holy Spirit  (audio)

* John Knox and the Scottish Reformation

* John Knox and the King James Bible

* Article on the King James Bible and the Reformation

* Video on American Christian Roots by historian David Barton