Ephesians 5:14. Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you!

Have we slumbered in our Christian faith? Have we turned a blind eye to the political landscape of our beloved country? Are we failing future generations by replacing knowledge of the Almighty and the rich history of America? Recently, I heard a pastor say, “We’ve replaced conviction with convenience.”

This year, the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday. It is young compared to other countries worldwide. However, in that short time, a lot has happened. Just imagine if we were still part of Britain, or if France had taken over the US? What would we be today?

There is so much going on in the news these days that has to do with the Constitution. It is quite interesting to see how the rule of law and what our Founding Fathers put in place are either upheld or challenged. So, all this has piqued my desire to reacquaint myself with the doings of our United States government. I found free courses on the Constitution through Hillsdale College. I highly encourage you to check it out.

In addition to those studies, I’ve been educating myself about the history of the Christian faith during the American Revolution. You might be asking why am I doing this? Well, if you were once a teenager and learned this content in high school or college, unless you were going into politics or government, this history really didn’t matter. However, we are seeing changes in the US and in the world that look like the stories are flying off the pages of historical books.

I’ve never been interested in history, whether it’s British or any other foreign history, but as I get older, I wonder more about it. This, with my growing faith in Jesus Christ, has led me to research prior preachers and revivalists. For example, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Charles Finney, Hudson Taylor, David Brainerd, etc.

One might think, you’re becoming a “Christian Nationalist”. That’s a bad word these days. But, I’ve always identified as a Christian – that’s my faith. And, if I’m born American, I should take an interest in learning more about the country I’ve been born into. Does that make me a nationalist? I don’t know. I do know, my family and I are free in this beautiful, chaotic country.

Which leads me to my next point. I recently saw an awesome movie at the theater called “A Great Awakening.” It is a historical drama depicting the unlikely friendship between the Reverend George Whitefield, a British preacher who ignited the first Great Awakening, and Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s Founding Fathers. It highlights the spiritual and cultural forces that helped shape early America, the American Revolution, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the conception of the United States Constitution.

George Whitefield was the first known faith celebrity, a theater student who, through a conversion at Oxford, challenged the church sermons, often calling it a dead religion. Using his theatrical background, his boisterous, thunderous, and passionate voice, often called people to repentance and liberty in Christ. And Benjamin Franklin, a prolific speaker who ran a newspaper for the colonies, helped the Reverend spread his sermons, converting almost a million people, and possibly changing Mr. Franklin’s views on the Divine.

It amazes me how two very unlikely people joined together to do such Mighty, Godly work. But I know in reading through the scriptures, God doesn’t use the mighty; He uses the flawed and broken to transform the multitude.

It was a wonderful, cinematic movie. Watch the trailer.

George Whitefield died in 1770 at the onset of the American Revolution, though there had been “skirmishes” between Britain and the Colonies for some years. He never got to see what Benjamin Franklin and the Founding Fathers did for America:

  • The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
  • The Articles of Confederation were adopted on November 15th, 1777.
  • The Constitutional Convention officially opened on May 25th, 1787.
  • The United States Constitution was signed by 39 delegates on September 17th, 1787.

Mr. Whitefield also didn’t see what his fervent influence and evangelical movement across America and Britain did to challenge the established church and bridge denominational lines.

So, I will end with this. Have we slumbered in our Christian faith? Have we turned a blind eye to the political landscape of our beloved country? Are we in need of another Great Awakening across America?

Awake, O Sleeper!