Page 3 - THE REAL TRUTH...

E xcitement filled the air on September 6, 1620 as 102 pilgrims walked up the gangplank to
board theMayflower for their trip to the “New World.”
No, this was not a vacation or a journey of lei- sure. It was a journey of “expediency.” Since their Puritan beliefs were in direct conflict with the Church of England or Anglican (which means “of England”) Church and also the government of En- gland, the Puritans felt the only course left to them was to leave England as far behind as possible.
Their supreme desire was to worship God as they deemed proper. They felt their “one way” trip to the New World would do exactly that.
If they were to stay in England, it meant the possibility of facing charges of treason for not ac- cepting the views of the Church of England.
Sixty-six days after leaving Plymouth, England, the pilgrims walked the gangplank again. This time their feet touched the shores of a “New World” and what was known as Cape Cod. The date was No- vember 11, 1620.
Finally they breathed a sigh of relief, believing they had left their troubles far behind and had escaped religious persecution.
As the news of the Pilgrim’s successful journey and the founding of the Plymouth Colony made its way back across the Atlantic, new hope began to beat in the breasts of people all across England, who were also yearning for “religious freedom.” Soon more Puritans, as well as many others began flocking to America.
However, as early as 1629, the government
of Virginia established the Anglican Church at Jamestown Colony to be part of the government in the “New World.” This arrangement of the “gov- ernment and church” being “one,” strongly contin- ued even after the revolution in 1776.
Reuben Ford was born in Goochland County in 1742. He surrendered his life to Christ in 1762 at the age of 20 under the fiery preaching of George Whitefield. Later he surrendered further and answered the call to preach the Word, a calling at that time that was “illegal” without “the govern- ment and its church’s” approval.
A new group of Christians had emerged in the colonies as a result of Whitefield’s influence. They believed that their calling to the ministry came from God and not from man. Therefore, they did not need the government and its church to provide them with ministerial credentials.
These Believers studied God’s Word for them- selves, they began to believe that infant sprinkling (known as baptism) was not Biblical. They be- lieved the Bible taught that a person must repent of his or her sins and experience a new birth. Then they were to be “baptized,” by being fully im- mersed in water.
They also began to believe that God’s Word called for more than joining a church. They felt that a person must repent of his or her sins and experience a “new birth.”
These “new beliefs” placed the new churches that were beginning to spring in the colonies on a colli- sion course with the “government and its church.”
Reuben Ford was 26 years old when the “gov- ernment and its church” began their “purging” in Virginia.
The goal they had in mind, was to force the “rebel clergy” and their followers into submission.
In order to eliminate any competition of op- posing views, the government decreed that only properly ordained clergy members of the Anglican Church would be allowed to preach. Later the An- glican Church would become known as the Protes- tant Episcopal Church.
The law was very clear. It was “against the law” for ministers to preach the Word of God or unite
a man and woman in holy matrimony if they did not have a “government approved” ordination. No churches could be established outside the “govern- ment and its church.” If Christians were to meet for any kind of services, it was unlawful to call these meeting places “churches.”
Because of the colonists’ unwillingness to obey the “government and its church” laws, the govern- ment began a reign of terror in Virginia in 1768. The intent was to break “the religious rebels” who dared to defy “the government and its church” by not bowing at the “government’s altar.”
Soon the “long arm of the law” began to reach out across Virginia. Ministers who defied the “government and its church” and dared to preach the Word of God without government permission were subject to being beaten and/or hauled off to jail. Ministers who dared to perform marriages without “the government and its church’s” approv- al, were also jailed.
The “government and its church” were insepa- rable as well as unmerciful to any Christian who would not conform to their edicts.
Christians in America were ruled by a “govern- Page 1