American political institutions had Christian foundations because the men that gave us those institutions read Christian works about a biblical view of civil Government. John Locke (1632-1704) is one of the political theorists that the founders looked to. His 2nd Treatise On Government is credited with being the foundation stone of our Declaration of Independence and it is. With just a cursory reading of Locke it is easy to see his influence on the declaration. In his treatise John Locke goes to the Scriptures in order to defend his views for restraining tyrannical kings. Locke quotes the scriptures at least 1,000 times in this book. He got his ideas from the Puritan ministers he studied under and their books that he read. One of the works Locke read was Lex Rex by Rev. Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661). Rutherford and Lock were both popular with our founding fathers. Another popular book amongst the founders was Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos (or in English: A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants) by a Reformed French Christian (a Huguenot) Philippe Duplessis-Mornay (1549-1623). under the pen name Junius Brutus. John Adams said this book was very influential on the founding fathers. It was written by a Christian looking to God's Word for a better understanding and better foundation for civil government that would allow for Christian liberty.

No one holding to today's popular dispensational theology could have written any of these works. The dispensational understanding of how the Christian life is applicable to the world around us is far too narrow to have written such books. The books mentioned above are very important and played a great part in bestowing upon us our political and religious liberty that we have inherited from our forebears. I have read two of the three books completely and a good bit of Lex Rex. They are difficult to read but I highly recommend them. They are certainly worth the effort.

The Reformed Christian looks to the Great Commission, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Cultural Mandate (i.e. Gen1:27), the fact that the gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church, that Christ is now given all authority in heaven and on earth, the fact that He is at the right hand of the Father and will remain there until his enemies are made His footstool as the foundation for optimism in the continued success of the Gospel in converting the World to Christ over the long haul. We think very long term when we are looking forward into the future, and also when we are looking backwards into history.

The Reformed faith believes in the Church triumphant in space, time and history. Many of us believe all Christ enemies will be conquered by the two edged sword of the Gospel before Christ returns.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Kenith