"Make America Godly Again!"

Our Founding Fathers experienced firsthand a tyrannical government, and they were determined to put laws in place to keep the government from ever controlling the church and religious freedom again.

The religious clause of the First Amendment states, “Congress [arm of the federal government] shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”  Knowing how power corrupts, the framers of the First Amendment wanted to be clear, the whole subject of religion and religious expression was to be left up to the States and the people – not the federal government as it is today!

Having a biblical worldview, the framers implemented Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22 to bring clarity and spiritual security to the amendment. In Matthew 22, the Pharisees attempt to trap Jesus by asking the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes.” Jesus then asked for a denarius and posed the question, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus said to them, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Jesus taught our Founding Fathers while temporal citizens of this earth, we have a responsibility to both God (church) and Caesar (state) – and God is sovereign over both. Also, we are to publicly acknowledge these two jurisdictions of church and state work together – not the “lie” of “separation of church and state” created by secularists. Therefore, a cooperative relationship between the church and state should reflect God’s law and the gospel – without government interference – making America “One Nation Under God.” Unfortunately, since the secularization of America, our pulpits don’t preach and our schools don’t teach that religious freedom is a Christian concept enjoyed by all religions.

While writing this letter, I picked up a quarter and decided to walk through the same exercise. I imagined Jesus asking me to look at the quarter. Then He asked, “Whose image and inscription is [on the coin]?” (Matthew 22:20). My response – “George Washington and ‘In God We Trust.’” Jesus’ answer –“then put your trust in God as Washington and the Founders did -and take back from Caesar what is God’s – for the glory of God!” AMEN!

In my next letter I will suggest how to “take back from Caesar what is God’s” – for the glory of God!

In the year of our Lord 2025,
Sincerely, Tom Hughes
President, Alliance for Religious Freedom, LLC
www.allianceforreligiousfreedom.com
allianceforreligiousfreedom@gmail.com