“And he said, Hearken ye all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou, King Jehoshaphat: Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear you not, neither be afraid for this great multitude: FOR THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GOD’S.” (2nd Chronicles 20:15-17: 1599 Geneva Bible).
For those who are unaware, the 1599 Geneva Bible was THE Bible used by our Pilgrim Forefathers (they didn’t like the KJV). Certainly it was read and preached from during the hazardous and tedious 66-day voyage from England to the New World during that increasingly stormy and harsh Fall on the Atlantic Ocean in 1620. Fierce storms and huge waves and wretched living conditions below decks would have turned most modern people back from whence they came. Not so for these 102 stalwart souls who had determined to separate from their old world and, trusting God for guidance and protection, build a new and religiously separate colony in the wilderness of North America.
Not enough modern Americans know the real story of the great struggles that these Pilgrim men and women endured over the next few years in order to “obey God by resisting tyranny”. They really did “put their money (and their lives) where their mouths were”. These stalwart people, and many more of their brethren, had struggled for decades to reform, or purify, the existing Church of England, to which all of them were expected by law to belong. Eventually, this band of a few hundred souls—basically a single church congregation—concluded that reforming the Church of England was impossible and, after a sojourn of 12 years in Holland (to escape the persecution perpetrated upon them by King James’ supporters), a portion of them volunteered to be the first of their congregation to venture to the New World and, in faith, begin a new colony that would be honoring to God’s Word. And so they did! (The non-believers joined this “Plymouth Venture” for a “new start”, or as paid tradesmen to assist the believers in building the new colony’s buildings, or to escape their own “problems”.)
398 years have passed since Plymouth Colony’s difficult and painful beginning. The tiny village of “New Plimouth” (1620 spelling) has grown, along with historic Jamestown and thriving St. Augustine, into a huge nation of 320 million. However, I fear that our Pilgrim Forefathers and Mothers would have great difficulty in recognizing among Americans today the basic principles that guided them. Those principles haven’t been totally obliterated, but they surely seem to have become “blurred”. So why, we might ask, did these Pilgrims—believers and non-believers alike—and not all English-born—do what they did, and why don’t we place a higher value on their sacrifices for us?
The devout Christians among them knew that they were “pilgrims” sojourning through this life, fighting the spiritual (and physical) battles with which they were confronted. Did they make these sacrifices for the purpose of self-gratification or vanity or trying to make themselves more holy than their countrymen? I don’t think so. I’m convinced that the Christians did what they did to honor their Savior, Jesus. Why did God call these people—members of ONE church congregation pastored by Rev. John Robinson—to follow Him at such a great cost? As Paul reminds us in the Word, and as they assured the people of their day, they were not especially wise—they surely were not wealthy or influential in their world—and to those around them they were nothing but troublemakers, particularly to The Church of England’s hierarchy.
But as so often happened in history, where faithful men and women have chosen to battle on God’s side, their Heavenly Father chose the “foolish things”—the weak people of that age and time—to shame those who thought they were too “wise” to believe in Him with all their hearts, minds, and strengths. God chose both faithful and unregenerate people to serve His purpose and shame the strong and arrogant who had tyrannized these faithful ones for decades. God chose the lowly and despised people of their world to change that world. Ultimately, these Pilgrims “saw the defeat of their adversaries, and their ears heard the rout of their wicked foes” (Psalm 92:11).
It’s fashionable (and politically correct in some circles) in our “enlightened” world of today to ridicule and castigate the Plymouth Pilgrims (who were NOT the “Puritans” who came in 1630 and began the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Boston), who came to these shores in 1620 and helped to begin the foundations of the still somewhat free nation we enjoy today. We are constantly told, by historical illiterates and by those with big mouths, limited thinking ability, and hateful agendas in their hearts, that these Pilgrims were “hypocrites”, and “persecutors of the Native People”, that they “despoiled the pure and harmonious existence” of those indigenous people, and all because of their own “greed” and a desire to “force” their beliefs on others, and rape and pillage the “unsullied land” in order to send their “filthy gains” back to their English backers.
There are only a few “grains of truth” amongst the vast field of fairy tales (lies) regarding the interactions of these first Pilgrim colonists with the Native People. I’ll leave those arguments for others to discuss and resolve truthfully, and they already have been so resolved, in my opinion. For those who have studied these events with open minds and a desire for truth, it is obvious that these imperfect people—these Pilgrims-- came to this New World for both religious and political freedom, concepts which were somewhat foreign to the majority of people of that day, a time when the evil and erroneous doctrine of the “Divine Right of Kings” was still in vogue throughout Europe.
Some in our time have questioned whether the price that they paid for
this freedom was too high, considering that about half of them died that first brutal winter—i.e. was the price paid higher than the ultimate value
that they, and eventually WE, received? Good question. Is the cost of
freedom higher than the value received? Is the battle that we, as Christians (and as patriots), choose to fight on God’s side too overwhelming for us in our time, or are we to rely on God’s Word that, “if God be for us, who can be against us”? What price can be placed on the freedom to worship God in our own way (or not to do so at all), without the threat of being destroyed by the State (a threat that was faced by the Pilgrims for the ENTIRE time they lived in England)? Of what value is our ability to speak our own minds to our neighbors and fellow citizens, face-to-face, in the press or electronic media, without serious threats of government agents of tyranny coming to our door to arrest us for disagreeing with any current politically correct despotism that they might try to force upon us? (Of course, today there ARE increasing threats against our free speech here in the U.S.—the question is how serious are those threats?)
So I ask you, my readers and fellow countrymen, as I’m sure the Pilgrims asked themselves in times of stress and doubt—WHAT VALUE IS FREEDOM AT ALL? Each one of us must now and forever decide that in our minds, for “freedom” is a concept that exists ONLY as we will it to exist. If we lose the will we most assuredly will lose the freedom! That choice is forever in our hands. And to choose “freedom” has always been, is now, and forever will be, a conflict between the forces of free thought, speech, and worship, as exemplified by our Founders, and the forces of despotism and collectivism, to whom these liberties are a threat to their grand plans for a “New World Order”. For those who are unaware, this battle to defend our freedom from the Commissars of Collectivism is being fought all around our troubled country to this very day. If you are unaware of that fact you are at risk, especially now that the New Bolshevik (communist-lite) Party will assume control of the U.S. House of Representatives from the feckless and often “clueless” Republicans next January!
We are currently close to two years into the Trump Administration, and in my opinion many things have improved in our economy and in the
“spirit” of those who consider themselves to be Constitutional patriots. Unfortunately, the paid prostitutes of the main stream media—the disgusting leftwing progressive politicians of The New Bolshevik Party (formerly Democrat Party)—the despicable RINOS and pathetic Never Trumpers—the oligarchs of big business and big finance—all too often seem to be supporters of what has been called “The Deep State”, which, thanks to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016, has been discovered to be lurking in our body politic, like a giant venomous spider threatening to devour our free enterprise economic system and convert it into its deceitful web of a Marxist/progressive/semi-benevolent (?) socialist “utopia”, threats which will only intensify over the next two years as the scurvy and disgusting New Bolsheviks do all they can to harass President Trump and sabotage his continuing efforts to “Make America Great Again”. Despite serious economic and moral dilemmas still threatening us under President Trump’s leadership, I shudder to contemplate what would have become of our constitutional liberties had that despicable, treacherous, and lying conniver, “Crooked” Hillary “What Difference Does It Make Now?” Clinton, been elected as POTUS!
All of these serpents of sedition have become the servants of the “god” of this age, and have seemingly blinded the minds of half of our countrymen, to the extent that it appears they want to live in Marxist/socialist/tyrannical darkness, and in their brainwashed confusion they are becoming an existential threat to those of us who value our right to continue to live as free people in a free constitutional republic as envisioned by our Founders. (Witness the violent fascist criminal MOBS who call themselves “anti-fascist”—AntiFa—and who stifle our precious First Amendment rights while in the pay of freedom-haters like the treacherous funder of fascism, George Soros, and his fellow billionaire anti-Americans.)
So, were the Pilgrims truly on God’s side in this eternal battle between
the forces of His Light and Satan’s darkness? I believe they were. These weak but faithful ones were often hard pressed on every side, but
they were not crushed. They were often perplexed and confused, but God never abandoned them to the point of despair and resignation. For
decades they were persecuted in their native land, but they were never forsaken by the One who loved them and gave Himself for them. God’s
Grace was always sufficient for them, as it must be for those of us who today are called by HIS NAME—Christian! For the sake of their Savior, the Pilgrims “boasted” of their many weaknesses, so that Jesus’ Power could rest on them. For the sake of their Savior they delighted in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, and in many difficulties. There is no doubt that they were on the right side of the struggle of good versus evil that began before the dawn of creation, and will not end until our Savior, Jesus the Christ, returns to set up His Kingdom on Earth. This article’s title asks: Whose Side Are We On In This Battle? I declare, in all my weaknesses, for God’s side in this battle! What about YOU?
May all of you have a truly blessed and God-honoring Thanksgiving celebration on November 22, because as Americans we still have much for which to be THANKFUL!