On Wednesday, April 29, 2015, Messianic Jewish Rabbi, Jonathan
Cahn, spoke at the fourth annual Washington—A
Man of Prayer event held at the U.S. Capitol, delivered on the 226th
anniversary of the inauguration of President George Washington.
The following is the full text from that address and one of the most profound things I have ever read.
"It is April 29, 2015. Two hundred and twenty-six years ago this day, George Washington readied himself for the first ever presidential inauguration, to take place the following day—the day America as we know it came into existence, with the President's hand resting on the Word of God. That day would conclude with America's first government gathering in prayer to dedicate the nation's future to God.
A century and a half earlier, another seminal event took place on the same day. On April 29, 1607, the voyagers on the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed, gathered together in prayer at Cape Henry to set a wooden cross in the sands of Virginia Beach, and dedicate the new civilization to the will and purposes of God.
America's biblical foundation would be affirmed and reaffirmed over and over again by its forefathers, from the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, to the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, to the leaders of the first American colonies who declared publicly and in writing that the new Commonwealth had come into existence solely for the glory and purposes of God.
No historian can rewrite that. No president can expunge that. And if a thousand angels swore on a thousand Bibles that this was not the case, it would in no way alter the fact that this American civilization was conceived, established, dedicated, and founded on a biblical cornerstone—America was brought into existence for the will and purpose of God.
On this night, over two hundred years ago, George Washington held in his hand the first ever presidential address. In that address was a prophetic warning. It was this: "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of Order and Right which Heaven itself hath ordained." In other words, if America should ever turn away from God and His ways, if it should ever disregard His eternal rules of Order and Right, then His blessings, the smiles of Heaven, would be removed from the land.
It was an ancient warning. It had been given in Hebrew words by the prophets to the kingdom of Israel. But Israel turned away from God and disregarded His eternal rules of Order and Right.
They drove God out of their government, out of their public squares, out of their culture, out of the lives of their children; they worshiped idols and served other gods. They celebrated immorality and they persecuted the righteous. They lifted up their children on the altars of foreign gods. And the blessings of God were removed from the land and replaced by judgment.
It is two and half thousand years later, and America has made the same mistake. We, too, have turned away from God. We, too, have driven Him out of the government, out of our public square, out of our culture, out of the lives of our children. We, too, have profaned the sacred and sanctified the profane. And we, too, have killed our most innocent—over fifty-five million of our unborn children—and our collective hands are covered with blood. What we were warned never to do, we now have done.
And now we gather in the city named after the one who gave that prophetic warning. And yesterday, in this city, in the building that sits across from this hill, the Justices of the Supreme Court took up their places on the bench to decide whether America should strike down the biblical and historic definition of marriage. The very fact that that event should take place as such is a sign in itself, that this is the America of Washington's warning. It's here, and this day of which he warned is now.
We have become a civilization in spiritual schizophrenia, a nation at war against its own foundation. The Supreme Court opens its sessions with the words: "God save the United States and this Honorable Court." But if then—if this honorable court should overrule the word of God and strike down the eternal rules of Order and Right that Heaven itself hath ordained, how then will God save it?
Supreme Court Justices, can you judge the ways of God? Can you, with manmade verdicts, overrule the eternal laws of God? There is another court, and there is another Judge. And before Him, all men and all judges will give account. If a nation's high court should pass judgment on the Almighty, should you then be surprised if the Almighty should pass judgment on that court and that nation?
In the Book of Jeremiah, it is written: "Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for that which cannot help them." Let us not pretend as to what we are now doing. We are doing that which Israel did on the altars of Baal. We are exchanging our God for idols, our light for darkness, and our glory for that which cannot save us. Are we ready to risk that which comes on the other side of that exchange, the day when the blessings of Heaven are removed from the land?
We began with a word from the President of our first nation's—or the day that he began as President. I now speak a word to the President of our nation's most recent days. Each time I have spoken here, I have asked a question. I'll now answer it. Mr. President, with all respect that is due, what happens if one assumes the presidency by placing his left hand on the Word of God, and then, with his right hand, enacts laws that war against the very same Word of God on which he laid his hand? Such an act invokes the judgment of the Almighty.
To swear an Oath on the Word of God in which it is written "Defend the weak" and "Do not murder," and to then to not defend the weak, to not protect the unborn, but, instead, to advance their murder, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
To swear an Oath on the Word of God, in which its written, "Do not cause your brother to stumble," and then to seek to force those who uphold the Word of God to transgress the Word of God, by partaking in the killing of the unborn and the celebration of sin, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
And to swear an Oath on the Word of God, in which its written, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people," and then to take part in the leading of a nation away from "the eternal rules of Order and Right that Heaven itself hath ordained," and against the very Word of God on which you laid your hand, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
When the leaders of ancient Israel turned away from God, when they abolished His precepts, and broke His covenant, they did so in the shadow of Moses, whose voice cried out to them in warning.
Mr. President, when you address the nation from this house, look up. Look up above the Senators and Representatives, above the Supreme Court Justices, and above the invited guests, and you will see a face—the only full visage in that wall—looking back at you. It is the face of Moses.
And if that face could speak, it would say this: "No man can overrule the laws of God, no order can annul the order of God, and no judgment of man can stand against the judgments of God. Invoke not His judgment, but choose life. Lead in the way of repentance. Invoke the grace of God, that He might have mercy on this land."
We have come to a most critical moment. As Elijah stood on top of Mount Carmel and cried out to Israel in its hour of decision, in between two altars and two gods, his voice now cries out to America and says: "Choose you this day whom you will serve."
Seventy years ago, the Chaplain of the United States Senate cried out in the same voice, and said to this nation, "If the Lord be God, then follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him and go to hell!"
Tonight, America stands at the crossroads. And as Elijah came to the summit of Mount Carmel to make a declaration, we have come this night to Capitol Hill to declare that our god is not Baal. Our god is not Molech. Our god is not the government. Our god is not money. Our god is not power; not pleasure. Our god is not political correctness or any other man-made thing.
We have come to this hill to declare that there is only one God, and He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of Israel and of all nations. He alone is the Rock upon which this nation has come into existence.
And from this high place we make this declaration: "We will not bow down our knees to Baal. We will not bow down our knees to political correctness. We will not bow down our knees to a morality that is as shifting as sand in the wind. We will not bow down our knees to the laws and precepts of rebellion or to the sacred cows of moral apostasy. We will not bow down our knees to the idols of man. We will not bow down to Baal. We will bow down our knees only to the Lord our God, come what may, and we will have no other gods before Him."
For some trust in chariots, and some trust in princes, some trust in supreme courts, some trust in White Houses, some trust in governments, some trust in Wall Streets, some trust in powers, and some trust in idols.
But we will trust in the name of the Lord our God, the name above all names, above all kings, above all powers. We will trust in the only name given by which we can be saved.
The following is the full text from that address and one of the most profound things I have ever read.
"It is April 29, 2015. Two hundred and twenty-six years ago this day, George Washington readied himself for the first ever presidential inauguration, to take place the following day—the day America as we know it came into existence, with the President's hand resting on the Word of God. That day would conclude with America's first government gathering in prayer to dedicate the nation's future to God.
A century and a half earlier, another seminal event took place on the same day. On April 29, 1607, the voyagers on the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed, gathered together in prayer at Cape Henry to set a wooden cross in the sands of Virginia Beach, and dedicate the new civilization to the will and purposes of God.
America's biblical foundation would be affirmed and reaffirmed over and over again by its forefathers, from the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, to the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, to the leaders of the first American colonies who declared publicly and in writing that the new Commonwealth had come into existence solely for the glory and purposes of God.
No historian can rewrite that. No president can expunge that. And if a thousand angels swore on a thousand Bibles that this was not the case, it would in no way alter the fact that this American civilization was conceived, established, dedicated, and founded on a biblical cornerstone—America was brought into existence for the will and purpose of God.
On this night, over two hundred years ago, George Washington held in his hand the first ever presidential address. In that address was a prophetic warning. It was this: "The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of Order and Right which Heaven itself hath ordained." In other words, if America should ever turn away from God and His ways, if it should ever disregard His eternal rules of Order and Right, then His blessings, the smiles of Heaven, would be removed from the land.
It was an ancient warning. It had been given in Hebrew words by the prophets to the kingdom of Israel. But Israel turned away from God and disregarded His eternal rules of Order and Right.
They drove God out of their government, out of their public squares, out of their culture, out of the lives of their children; they worshiped idols and served other gods. They celebrated immorality and they persecuted the righteous. They lifted up their children on the altars of foreign gods. And the blessings of God were removed from the land and replaced by judgment.
It is two and half thousand years later, and America has made the same mistake. We, too, have turned away from God. We, too, have driven Him out of the government, out of our public square, out of our culture, out of the lives of our children. We, too, have profaned the sacred and sanctified the profane. And we, too, have killed our most innocent—over fifty-five million of our unborn children—and our collective hands are covered with blood. What we were warned never to do, we now have done.
And now we gather in the city named after the one who gave that prophetic warning. And yesterday, in this city, in the building that sits across from this hill, the Justices of the Supreme Court took up their places on the bench to decide whether America should strike down the biblical and historic definition of marriage. The very fact that that event should take place as such is a sign in itself, that this is the America of Washington's warning. It's here, and this day of which he warned is now.
We have become a civilization in spiritual schizophrenia, a nation at war against its own foundation. The Supreme Court opens its sessions with the words: "God save the United States and this Honorable Court." But if then—if this honorable court should overrule the word of God and strike down the eternal rules of Order and Right that Heaven itself hath ordained, how then will God save it?
Supreme Court Justices, can you judge the ways of God? Can you, with manmade verdicts, overrule the eternal laws of God? There is another court, and there is another Judge. And before Him, all men and all judges will give account. If a nation's high court should pass judgment on the Almighty, should you then be surprised if the Almighty should pass judgment on that court and that nation?
In the Book of Jeremiah, it is written: "Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for that which cannot help them." Let us not pretend as to what we are now doing. We are doing that which Israel did on the altars of Baal. We are exchanging our God for idols, our light for darkness, and our glory for that which cannot save us. Are we ready to risk that which comes on the other side of that exchange, the day when the blessings of Heaven are removed from the land?
We began with a word from the President of our first nation's—or the day that he began as President. I now speak a word to the President of our nation's most recent days. Each time I have spoken here, I have asked a question. I'll now answer it. Mr. President, with all respect that is due, what happens if one assumes the presidency by placing his left hand on the Word of God, and then, with his right hand, enacts laws that war against the very same Word of God on which he laid his hand? Such an act invokes the judgment of the Almighty.
To swear an Oath on the Word of God in which it is written "Defend the weak" and "Do not murder," and to then to not defend the weak, to not protect the unborn, but, instead, to advance their murder, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
To swear an Oath on the Word of God, in which its written, "Do not cause your brother to stumble," and then to seek to force those who uphold the Word of God to transgress the Word of God, by partaking in the killing of the unborn and the celebration of sin, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
And to swear an Oath on the Word of God, in which its written, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people," and then to take part in the leading of a nation away from "the eternal rules of Order and Right that Heaven itself hath ordained," and against the very Word of God on which you laid your hand, is to invoke the judgment of the Almighty.
When the leaders of ancient Israel turned away from God, when they abolished His precepts, and broke His covenant, they did so in the shadow of Moses, whose voice cried out to them in warning.
Mr. President, when you address the nation from this house, look up. Look up above the Senators and Representatives, above the Supreme Court Justices, and above the invited guests, and you will see a face—the only full visage in that wall—looking back at you. It is the face of Moses.
And if that face could speak, it would say this: "No man can overrule the laws of God, no order can annul the order of God, and no judgment of man can stand against the judgments of God. Invoke not His judgment, but choose life. Lead in the way of repentance. Invoke the grace of God, that He might have mercy on this land."
We have come to a most critical moment. As Elijah stood on top of Mount Carmel and cried out to Israel in its hour of decision, in between two altars and two gods, his voice now cries out to America and says: "Choose you this day whom you will serve."
Seventy years ago, the Chaplain of the United States Senate cried out in the same voice, and said to this nation, "If the Lord be God, then follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him and go to hell!"
Tonight, America stands at the crossroads. And as Elijah came to the summit of Mount Carmel to make a declaration, we have come this night to Capitol Hill to declare that our god is not Baal. Our god is not Molech. Our god is not the government. Our god is not money. Our god is not power; not pleasure. Our god is not political correctness or any other man-made thing.
We have come to this hill to declare that there is only one God, and He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God of Israel and of all nations. He alone is the Rock upon which this nation has come into existence.
And from this high place we make this declaration: "We will not bow down our knees to Baal. We will not bow down our knees to political correctness. We will not bow down our knees to a morality that is as shifting as sand in the wind. We will not bow down our knees to the laws and precepts of rebellion or to the sacred cows of moral apostasy. We will not bow down our knees to the idols of man. We will not bow down to Baal. We will bow down our knees only to the Lord our God, come what may, and we will have no other gods before Him."
For some trust in chariots, and some trust in princes, some trust in supreme courts, some trust in White Houses, some trust in governments, some trust in Wall Streets, some trust in powers, and some trust in idols.
But we will trust in the name of the Lord our God, the name above all names, above all kings, above all powers. We will trust in the only name given by which we can be saved.
