Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Covenant Theology

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2024-01-02

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver examines the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1, using it as a springboard to discuss how individuals and nations fall when they turn their backs on God. He contrasts America's Christian founding, as evidenced by early state constitutions requiring Christian faith for office, with its current moral and spiritual decline. Drawing on historical sources like Alexis de Tocqueville, Weaver warns that loss of Christianity leads to loss of liberty, and calls for repentance.

[John Weaver] All right. I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to Second Samuel, chapter one. I'm actually going to bring the message which I should have brought to you last week. I preached a different message this morning and you may or may not get it. But the title of the message This morning that I preached was ears, thumbs and toes. So you might be interested in it. And I'm sure it'll be on the net before long. But look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to Second Samuel chapter one. The title of this message is how. The mighty have fallen. So if you look in Second Samuel one in verse twenty seven, I'm just going to read this text momentarily. David says, how are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished? This statement comes over David's lamentation.

[John Weaver] Of the death of Saul and his son, Jonathan. So if you look in verse 17 and David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan, his son. Also, he made them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow. Behold, it is written in the book of Jasher. The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places. How are the mighty fallen? And then he goes on down and he talks about Saul and Jonathan. And this elegy, then, is a deep testimony to the depth of David's sincere grief over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. He also taught that this lamentation was to be made and taught to the children of Israel as well. Now, you have to remember that Saul treated David as an enemy.

[John Weaver] He chased him many times, tried to kill him twice. He threw a javelin at him, tried to pin him to the wall. The interesting thing is, although Saul treated David as an enemy, David never retaliated in kind. And David maintained a biblical attitude towards Saul's wickedness the whole time. I want you to look at it, if you would, In 1st Samuel chapter 24, David had an excellent opportunity to kill Saul and he refused to do so. So in 1st Samuel chapter 24, beginning there with verse 4, look at what the Bible says. Saul now has come into the cave where David and his men are hiding, and he does not know that David and his men are there. And the men of David said unto him, Behold, the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privately. It came to pass afterward that David's heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

[John Weaver] And he said unto his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. So David now had a perfect opportunity to kill Saul, and he refused to do so. In fact, just cutting off the skirt of his garment convicted him as well. If you would turn right over to first Samuel chapter 26.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse eight. 1 Samuel chapter 26 and verse 8. Again, David has a perfect opportunity to kill Saul. Saul and his men have been chasing David, and now they are at rest at night, and God has caused a deep sleep to fall upon Saul and all of those surrounding him. And so, look if you would in verse 8, Then said Abishai to David, God had delivered on any mean divine hand this day.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spirit into the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? David said, furthermore, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him. or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed. But I pray thee, take thou the spear that is his bolster and the crews of water and let us go.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the interesting thing. Although David's heart smote him back in first Samuel, chapter 24. Now, when you get to first Samuel, chapter 26, it's Abishai. And Abishai is a warrior and he's begging David, please, he said, just let me kill him. I will smite him one time. In other words, let me put it to you very plainly. He is saying he will feel a thing. I won't have to smite him a second time. I know how to kill him. Let me kill him. And of course, David said, no, you can't do that.

[John Weaver] And he said, take your spear, take the crews of water. And let's go. And of course, David called us all and woke him up and said, look, I had the opportunity to begin. I didn't. So David never, ever retaliated against him.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is you have to understand that Saul was chosen by God to be king. He was anointed by God to be king. He actually became king And yet it was because of Saul's disobedience, his wickedness, and his rebellion that he was rejected by God to be king after he was already anointed. If you look back in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel 15. This is where God had sent Saul on the mission to kill the Amalekites. And this is where Saul partially obeyed in the sense that he killed all of that, which was vile, but he saved the king Agag of the Amalekites alive and the best of the oxen and the best of the sheep. And he just simply would not kill everything. In fact, the word of God came to him and told him he was rejected. So if you look at verse twenty five, Saul is speaking to Samuel.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin and turn again with me that I may worship the Lord. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord have rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of the mantle and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day and given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou. So Saul now has been rejected by God, having been chosen by God, having been anointed by God, and initially having been used by God because God did use him to defeat the Philistines and to drive the Philistines away from the people of Israel. But now he is disobeyed God and God has rejected him.

[John Weaver] Now, here's an interesting thing. Saul not only lost his life. But he also lost his kingdom because of his rebellion against God. I want to point something out. What is true of individuals which we've just looked at in the life of Saul? is also true in nations. God is free to choose whomever he will. God is free to dispose whomever he will, whether it be individuals or whether it be nations. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 18. We read this passage several weeks back, but I want you to look at it again in light of what I'm talking about. Jeremiah, chapter 18, to show you we're no longer not talking about individuals. We're talking about nations. So look at it in Jeremiah 18, beginning there with verse one. The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house and behold.

[John Weaver] He brought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So I made it again, another vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, Oh, house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter, said the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

[John Weaver] Now look what he says. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I fought to do unto them. And in one instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to build and to plant it. If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, go speak to men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus said the Lord, Behold, I frame evil against you and devise advice against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good.

[John Weaver] Now, God said, Look, Just like the clay is in the potter's hand. So the nations are in my hand, just like the potter can make the vessel into anything that he desires. God says, I can make nations and kingdoms into anything that I desire. I can either build them up or I could destroy them. I can pull them down.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to think about the title of this message, because there's going to be a lot of history that I'm going to give you just shortly. But think about the title, How the Mighty Have Fallen. I'm sure that everyone in this room will understand that things have changed greatly in America. In fact, I can tell you that things have changed greatly since I was a boy and since I was a young man.

[John Weaver] And I've often thought that it was my generation that tasted the real last little bit of freedom that we really had in this country. But things have gotten progressively worse. We have increased in wickedness. We've embraced socialism and communism. We've debauched our economy. We've destroyed manliness and femininity. We have supported laziness and indolence by an unbiblical and an ungodly welfare system. And we've also destroyed an already unbiblical educational system that turns out dysfunctional illiterates by the thousands every year.

[John Weaver] And I could give illustration after illustration. But think about this. Our churches are also impotent. I read a quote this week. Someone has said Christianity has changed and someone objected and said, no, Christianity has not changed. Christians have changed. Christianity is really the truth in the same. It's just Christians who have changed. We've perverted the gospel. We have destroyed God's law. We've turned our backs upon the Lord. But our churches are impotent in one sense of the word. Christianity is hated and despised.

[John Weaver] Secularism and humanism seemingly have triumphed. They're not just on the rise. They're in control. Governments Both state and federal, think about this, are run by misfits, intellectually challenged morons, enemies, traitors, and treasonous individuals.

[John Weaver] Now, I bet there may be one or two exceptions, but by and large, that's an accurate statement of governments. Whether you're talking about the federal government in Washington, D.C., States, governments in Atlanta, Georgia, Tallahassee, Florida. It doesn't matter. Usually they are corrupt as they could be. So here's the question that you have to ask. How have we gotten in the mess that we're in? How did we get in the state?

[John Weaver] In which we are now existing. Now, the short answer is, of course, we have forsaken God and God's law. We've turned our backs upon him. That is for sure. But, you know, the problem is this. Most of us have never realized the depth from which we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. So I want you to look in your Bibles very quickly to Deuteronomy chapter 28. You'll see basically the same truth in Leviticus chapter 26. But if you want to know about the curses of God and the blessings of God, you need to read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. When you get to Deuteronomy chapter 28, the very first 14 verses deal with the blessings for obedience.

[John Weaver] For instance, look in verse one, God said, And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God." Then if you read down through verse 14, you will find all the blessings if we are obedient. Now, if you will get to verse 15, God says it like this, But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. And you can read all of the curses now all the way to the end of this chapter down to about verse 68.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to call your attention to verse 43. Let's start reading there. This is part of God's curses for disobedience. In verse 43, He says this, The stranger that is within thee. And by the way, remember, if you would please, a stranger in the Bible is an alien, not just someone from a different country, but someone who holds a different culture, a different faith. So he says in verse 43, the stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee. and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkenest not unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder and upon thy seat forever. Now watch this, because Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.

[John Weaver] Therefore shall thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness and in one of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon my neck until he have destroyed me. And then he said, the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from afar. And so notice, if you would, what God is saying, the enemy that's within the stranger that's within is going to get up very high. You're going to get down very low. He's going to be the head. You're going to be the tail.

[John Weaver] So this is part of the curse for disobedience. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. I want you to see the imagery that is given to us on how this actually appears to God. Notice in Jeremiah, chapter 32 and verse 33, Jeremiah 32, verse 33. Look at this. Look what God says. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 32.

[John Weaver] He said, because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests and their prophets and the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, look what they've done. And they turned under me the back and not the face, though I taught them rising up early and teaching them.

[John Weaver] Yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. So If you are talking to me as sincerely and as genuinely as you possibly could, and I just turn my back on you and I let you speak to my back and not to my face, you would consider that an insult. And rightly so. Because I would be saying to you, I'm not interested in what you have to say.

[John Weaver] I don't even want to listen to you. And this is what God is saying. I sent men to teach you, but you turn to me the back. You would not listen. Now, hang on. I want you to go back to Jeremiah, chapter 18. This has already happened. But notice what God is going to say to these same people. Look in Jeremiah, chapter 18, in verse 17. Jeremiah 18, verse 17. Ah, God says concerning these same people and I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy and I will show them the back and not the face in the day of their calamity. So now God says you've turned your back on me. Now, when your calamity falls upon you and you're screaming and crying, I'll turn my back on you. You would not listen to me. I will not listen to you.

[John Weaver] That is the lex talionis. That is the law of retribution.

[John Weaver] Now, if you would turn right on back to Isaiah, chapter 63, just a few pages over Isaiah 63. And look, if you would please, at verse 10, Isaiah 63 and verse 10. Look at what he said, I preached an entire message just on this one verse. Look what the Bible says. But they rebelled. We're talking about Judah, Jerusalem, Israel, but they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit.

[John Weaver] Therefore, he was turned to be their enemy and he fought against them. So they vexed God. They turned their backs upon him. He turned his back upon them and he turned them to be their enemy and he fought against them. You remember when Judah was being attacked by Babylon. It was Zedekiah who went to Jerusalem or sent word, not to Jerusalem, Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah and said, pray for us that maybe the Lord will turn this people away from us. And God told Zedekiah through Jeremiah, God said, he's not turning them back. He's going to fight against you himself. And all these kings are going to assemble themselves in the gates of Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] And that's exactly what happened. Now, here's what I'd like to do for the next little while. I want to share with you some of the original charters and constitutions of the original columns. You've heard me say this before, and I have copies of all of them. And you're going to find that they were basically the same. If you were an early colonial and you wanted to hold office in this country, you could not hold office unless you were a Christian and unless you adhered to the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments and you confessed faith in Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] So let me just begin by showing you a few samples. I'm going to come back to one of them, but I want you to think about this. How have the mighty fallen? I want you to think how far we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. Here's the Constitution of the state of North Carolina in 1776. There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this state in preference to any other.

[John Weaver] Now listen to the next article, Article 32, that no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority of the Old and New Testaments or shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of this state shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this state. If you did not adhere to the inspiration authority of the word of God, and if you were not a Christian, you could not hold office.

[John Weaver] Now, you did not have to be a Baptist. You didn't have to be an Anglican. You didn't have to be a Presbyterian, but you had to be a Christian.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the Constitution of the state of South Carolina, 1778. This is Article 38. that all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God and a future state of rewards and punishments and that God is to be publicly worshipped shall be freely tolerated. that all denominations of Christians in this state demeaning themselves peacefully and faithfully shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges. In other words, you had to be a Christian and it didn't matter whether you were a Presbyterian or Baptist or Episcopalian. You had to be a Christian.

[John Weaver] Now, normally we think of the north as being apostate and it did become apostate later on. That is for sure. But I want you to listen as liberal as Massachusetts is today. Here is the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780. The governor shall be chosen annually. And no person shall be eligible to this office unless at the time of his election, he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion.

[John Weaver] Here's chapter six, article one. Now, listen, all persons elected to state office or to the legislature must make and subscribe the following declaration. I blank do declare that I believe the Christian religion and have and have firm persuasion of its truth. Here's Article 3. And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves peacefully and as good subject of the Commonwealth shall be equally under the protection of the law and no subordination of any sect or nomination to another shall ever be established by law. So once again, they said you have to be a Christian and no, there's not going to be a state religion. But everyone is going to be tolerated as long as they adhere that the Bible is the word of God and the Christian religion is true Here you go. Here's the Constitution of the state of New Hampshire 1784 And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly as good citizens of the state shall be equally under the protection of the laws and no subordination. It's the same thing. A lot of these states had exactly the same wording, but every one of them is requiring Christians to be rulers.

[John Weaver] Here is the constitution of the state of Vermont, 1786. And each member of the legislature, before he takes his seat, shall make and describe and subscribe the following declaration. I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Christian religion. And no further or other religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this state. But no, you had to say you had to affirm that you believe the Bible and that you had a firm faith in the Christian religion. Not amazing.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to give you Another one right now. This is the constitution of the state of Tennessee. We're going to come back to this one. I could come back to the state of Vermont, its constitution, but I'm going to come back to the constitution of Tennessee. This was the original constitution. Well, I say the original, it was 1796, but listen to article eight, section two, no person who denies the being of God. or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state. So if you deny the scripture, if you deny the Lord Jesus Christ, you could not hold office.

[John Weaver] Now, John Jay, who happened to be the very first Supreme Court justice, he was appointed by George Washington. He was also a founding father. He was a member of the first and the second Continental Congress. He was instrumental in causing the Constitution to be ratified. He, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, wrote the Federalist Papers. And here is what John Jay said, October the 12th, 1816.

[John Weaver] He said, Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. That was the very first Supreme Court justice. Here's the Constitution of the state of Mississippi. This is 1817. No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.

[John Weaver] Now, Note, if you would, please. Every one of these that are read so far required. A belief in the word of God and required a faith in Christianity and particularly a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, someone is going to say. But, you know, the Constitution forbids a religious test. How in the world could these states come up with this and have this in their constitutions. If the constitution of the United States says there is to be no religious test. Well, here is the wording of the United States constitution, article six. It says this, the senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures and all executive and judicial officers. Both of the United States and of the several states shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution. But no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. Now, the Constitution, of course.

[John Weaver] In 1787, you understood that the term religion referred to the different religious groups or the different denominations of Christianity. Now, when it said that there was to be no religious test in 1787, it meant that there was not to be any denominational test. In other words, the United States Constitution was saying we're not going to have the Baptist religion as our state religion. We're not going to have the Presbyterian. We're not going to have the Anglican. We're not going to be like England. No, we're there's not going to be a religious test. And so Article six did not mean that there was to be an exclusion of Christianity or denial of Christianity or that it had to be a secular government. All it meant was you do not have to be of a certain persuasion, denominational persuasion to have an office in this state.

[John Weaver] You need to be a Christian now. I'm going to go back, I told you, to the Tennessee Constitution, this in 1796. Please understand 1787, the Constitution, 1789, the Constitution, 1787, 1789, the Constitution is written, approved, accepted, etc. So in 1796, the Tennessee Constitution says this in Article 8 and Section 2.

[John Weaver] No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state. So if you deny God, if you deny judgment, you cannot hold any office in the state of Tennessee. That is Article 8, Section 2. Here is Article 11, Section 4. That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state. And that's something. In Article 8, they said no person who denies the being of God can hold any office. No person who denies judgment can hold any office. And then in Article 11, they said no religious test. Which is a religious test that had nothing to do with believing in Jesus Christ or having Christianity as your basic foundation. What it did have to do with, there was no denominational test. So a fixed state of religious beliefs for the office holder is prescribed in Article Chapter 8, while at the same time in Chapter 11, it's saying there's not going to be a religious test.

[John Weaver] which would be a denominational test. So here it is. Listen carefully. Prescribing a requirement professing I blank do profess faith in God, the father. And in Jesus Christ, his only son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God bless forevermore. I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. this was the Constitution of Delaware in 1776, was not considered a religious test. Because it was not a denominational test. So when you think about this, that God can either build nations or God can destroy nations. And those who turn their backs upon God, God turned his back upon them.

[John Weaver] And you look at where we were and now where we are. Now here's what I want to do. I want to skip forward into the 1800s. Some of you have heard about, you've probably never read Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French social scientist who traveled to the United States in 1831. And he wrote a two part work, Democracy in America in 1835 and 1840.

[John Weaver] And I'm going to give you some quotes. I hope it just shocks the living daylights out of you. But here they are. You know, Phil wrote, upon my arrival in the United States, the the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention. And the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things to which I was unaccustomed.

[John Weaver] In France, I'd almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country. Hang on. The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them to conceive of the one without the other.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just stop right there. Haven't he finished his sentence? But he said the Americans conceive of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds, they cannot possibly think of one without the other. You know, I think there's a good scripture that would really explain that.

[John Weaver] Second Corinthians chapter three and verse seven. Now, verse 17, it is now the Lord is that spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. So the opposite is also true where the spirit of the Lord is not. There is no liberty. So here's what he said. Let me go back. He said it like this. The Americans combined the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.

[John Weaver] And with them, this conviction does not spring from a barren, traditionary faith, which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than live. In other words, he says this is a living thing. Then he goes on, he says, religion in America. And by the way, back in those days, religion equal Christianity. OK, religion in America or Christianity in America must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country.

[John Weaver] For if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Did you hear that he called religion or Christianity in America the foremost political institution. Then he said this, this opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but belongs to the whole nation. Wow. So everybody in the 1800s understood this. Everybody in 1700s understood this. Well, He went on and said this, the sex or the denominations, the denominations that exist in the United States are innumerable.

[John Weaver] Now, listen, they all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the creator. But they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each denomination adores the deity in its own peculiar manner, but all denominations preach the same moral law in the name of God. Moreover, all the sects or denominations of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same. Wow! So if you were in Massachusetts, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Vermont, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in South Carolina, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Pennsylvania, there'd be Christian morality.

[John Weaver] He said it didn't matter where you went. It didn't matter which denomination you listened to. All of them agreed on Christian morality. I wonder how that works out today. Especially when you have churches now that are having gay parades and LBGTQ and whatever else was there. I'm just pointing out the fact we're in the world is Christian morality. We've got to understand from where we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. De Tocqueville went on and said this in the United States, the sovereign authority is religious. or Christian. The sovereign authority is Christian. There is no country in the whole world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence than in America. I'm reading This is what he's saying. America is still the place where the Christian religion has kept the greatest real power over men's souls, and nothing better demonstrates how useful and natural it is to man since the country where it now has the widest sway is the most enlightened and the freest. Let that sink in.

[John Weaver] You lose Christianity, you lose freedom. Oh, I love this. In August of 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through the Chester County, New York, and he had the opportunity to listen to a court case. He writes, while I was in America, a witness who happened to be called to the court of the county of Chester declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of a soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of court in what he was about to say. He continued.

[John Weaver] The newspaper related the fact without any further comment. The New York Spectator of August 23rd, 1831 wrote this, the Court of the Common Pleas of Chester County, New York, a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God, and that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice, and that he knew of no case in a Christian country where a witness has been permitted to testify without such belief." That's shocking, isn't it? Wow. We're talking 1831. Judge said, I can't believe there's a man who doesn't believe in God. You couldn't even be an atheist and be a witness. Nobody would believe you.

[John Weaver] In 1895, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert compiled a lot of dictionary quotes, and here he quotes de Tocqueville and said, de Tocqueville said this, Christianity is the companion of liberty in all of its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims. So de Tocqueville understood that Christianity was basically the foundation of this country. Now, there was a contemporary of de Tocqueville who traveled with him across America.

[John Weaver] He was a French historian. His name was Gustave de Beaumont. And de Beauvoir gave his observations, just very few. But here's what he said. In America, Christian religion is always at the service of freedom. It is a principle of the United States legislature. Hang on. It is a principle of the United States legislature that to be a good citizen, It is necessary to be religious or Christian, and it's no less well-established rule that to fulfill one's duty toward God, it's necessary to be a good citizen. In general, anyone who adheres to one of the religious sects or denominations, whose number is immense in the United States and joins all of his social and political rights in peace.

[John Weaver] Ah, listen to his next statement. Let me go back. I'm going to read that and then tie it together. In general, anyone who adheres to one of the religious denominations, whose number is immense in the United States, enjoys all his social and political rights and peace. But the man who would claim to have neither a church nor religious beliefs would not only be excluded from all civil employment, and from all political offices, but would be an object of moral persecution of all kinds. No one would care to have any social relationships with him. Why? The man who is not a Christian, the man who claims to be an atheist would be excluded from all civil employment, all political offices. And he said no one would want anything to do with him. Then he said this, no one in the United States believes that a man without religion could be an honest man. Isn't that amazing?

[John Weaver] How far have we fallen? You know, it's one thing to say, Well, this country was founded on the Bible. This country was founded on Christianity. Until you realize the depth of that foundation. And then you look around and see where we are today. And all of a sudden, we should be very shocked.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you something else that Tocqueville did. This is astounding. Did Tocqueville basically predicted how we as Americans would eventually lose our freedoms. This is based upon his observations. I'm not saying this is prophetic. Neither am I saying what he's written is biblical, not saying that at all. But what I am saying is what he said is basically accurate. Listen to what he said. telling us how we will eventually lose our freedom. He said, and I'm quoting, it would happen a little at a time.

[John Weaver] I had noted in my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to the American model could lay itself open to the establishment of despotism with unusual ease. Listen, it would debase men without tormenting them.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just stop right there. It would debase men. Without tormenting them. Hmm. Let's see. If you've never read Rush Dooney's book, The American Indian, I would encourage you to do so. It's only a small book. Rush Dooney was a missionary to the American Indians for 11 years. Most people do not know that. It's a wonderful book. And in that book, Rush Duny explains how the federal government destroyed the American Indian. The Indians originally were great hunters, great warriors.

[John Weaver] Now they're drunkards and dopeheads. It's all because of what the federal government did to the American Indian. In the same book, Rush Jenny shows how the federal government has destroyed the American blacks. When I was a boy, we would have as many as 200 blacks a day working on our farms. they would work. Not today. In that book also he tells how the white race is being destroyed.

[John Weaver] Look at the welfare system. You get paid for having babies out of wedlock. You get paid for not working. Here's what he's saying now. He said It would debase men without tormenting them. What happened to the mighty hunting powers of the American Indian? How he could read tracks, how he could read broken leaves and broken limbs? Not anymore. It would debase men without tormenting them. men all alike and equal turned in upon themselves," now listen,"...in a restless search for their petty, vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls."

[John Weaver] You remember the bread and circuses in Rome. This is what he's saying. He said, above these men that are being debased, and allowed to fulfill all of their lusts. Above these men stand an immense and protective power. Listen, it prefers its citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they have only enjoyment in mind. It restricts the activity of free will within a narrow range and gradually removes autonomy itself from each citizen. The ruling power, having taken each citizen one by one in its powerful grasp, spreads its arms over the whole society, covering the surface of social life with a network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules. Wear your mask. Social distance. You can't go out.

[John Weaver] It does not break men's wills, but it does soften and bend and control them. It constantly opposes what actions they perform. It inhibits represses, drains, snuffs out, dulls so much effort that finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a flock of timid and hard-working animals with the government as shepherd, a single protective and all-powerful government. Individual intervention is suppressed. It is in the details that we run the risk. of enslaving men.

[John Weaver] Then he says this, for my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than in the slightest. I want to stop there. There's not much more, but I want you to listen. He says, for my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than that in slightest. Let me explain this to you. Because every great thing, every big thing is made up of small things.

[John Weaver] I remember when I was in graduate school. We were in Burkoff systematic theology. And we were discussing the sovereignty of God. And I was an old man when I was there, when I say I was an old man, I was young, but I was but I was still older than most of those students that were there because I was a married man and had children. But I never will forget we were we were discussing the sovereignty of God.

[John Weaver] And I usually refer to him as a kid. He was taller than I am, but he was a younger man. He raised his hand and he said, Dr. Neal, he said, I believe that God is sovereign in all the big things, but not the little things. And before I could catch myself, I said out loud, oh, what utter blasphemy. And of course, everybody looked at me. Dr. Neal looked at me. And I looked up at Dr. Neal. I said, Dr. Neal, I'm sorry for that outburst.

[John Weaver] But I said, that is such a blasphemous statement. I said, if you don't, if you do not correct it, I said, I am because every big thing is made up of a series of small things. And if there's anything over which God is not sovereign, then God is not God. He's not in control. Dr. Neal said, Mr. Weaver's right. And so this is what he's saying. For my part, I'd be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than the slightest. In other words, when we begin to give in to the little things, all of a sudden, it's the big thing that's gone. Because every big thing is made up of a series of little things. Listen to this. Then he goes on to say, subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day.

[John Weaver] Look up the word license in Black's Law Dictionary. Or Bouvier's Law Dictionary. You know what the word license means? Here's the definition. permission from a competent authority to do that which otherwise would be unlawful to do. That marriage licenses are a recent invention. People got married for centuries before marriage license ever came along. People drove before driver's license ever came along. To my horror, years ago, I'm talking years ago, probably 30 to 40 years ago, I had a pastor friend's son in Fairfax, Virginia, who was arrested for cutting down a tree on his own property without a permit.

[John Weaver] I could not believe it. So he said, subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day. It constantly irks them until they give up the exercise of their will and enfeebles their spirit. It will be useless to call upon those very citizens who become so dependent upon central government to choose from time to time the representative of this government. He concluded with this increasing despotism in the administrative sphere. They reckon citizens are incompetent. It is difficult to imagine how men who have completely given up the habit of self-government could successfully choose those who should do it for them.

[John Weaver] The vices of those who govern and the ineptitude of those governed would soon bring it to ruin and revert it to its abasement to a single master. All I'm trying to say is this. He's hit the nail right on the head when you look down through history and where we are today. The truth of God's word demonstrates how far we have fallen. The truth of God's word shows us how God can turn his back on a nation when that nation turns their back upon God.

[John Weaver] We fight against him, he fights against us. The Bible tells you in Romans chapter one in verse 28, talking about those people who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. In other words, all God has to do to destroy a nation is to let us do our own thing. All God has to do to destroy a man is just let him go. He'll destroy himself. And I hear all the time, people cannot think clearly. We can't think clearly biblically. We can't think clearly constitutionally. We can't think clearly ethically and morally. Why?

[John Weaver] The confusion and the lack of education in truth is purposeful, I do believe. Here's the second. Unless we repent as individuals, as families, as churches, and as a nation, we're going to be right back under a George. It may not be George III. It might be a George Soros. Or it might be a George Klaus Schwab. Or it could be anyone who's ruling us for our good, for our benefit.

[John Weaver] You see what I'm saying? We have lost the concept of freedom. We've lost the concept of liberty. And because we've lost those two things, it indicates that we've lost the truth of the word of God. I've been teaching on our Bible study on Thursday night, going through Romans 13 with some people who've never heard it. And I want to tell you, I've had some of the most surprising statements from those individuals. Why have we never heard this? Why have we never been taught this? The truth of the matter is this, folks.

[John Weaver] If you really perceive how far we have fallen Number one, it ought to really scare you. Number two, it ought to really make you cry out and pray to God. The foundation of this country was the Christian religion. And now Christianity has been usurped with secularism, humanism and every other ism under the sun. We need to turn our face to God and ask forgiveness and begin to obey his word. How have the mighty fallen?

[John Weaver] As individuals, as families, as churches, as societies, as nations. Europe is in worse condition than we are. I'm saying, if God is not merciful and we do not repent, we're in trouble up in our eyeballs. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Lord, for the warning. We thank You for the education. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to see how desperately we need Thee. How far we have fallen, Lord, and into what depths we have fallen as well. We're at the danger point. Lord, turn us, and we shall be turned. Quicken us, and we shall fall upon Thy name.

[John Weaver] Give us Your grace and Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray, Amen. ♪ ♪ you

How The Mighty Have Fallen

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	hNeWAbcyg0o
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-01-02
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	83

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and David's Lament

Weaver introduces the message from 2 Samuel 1, focusing on David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, highlighting David's refusal to retaliate against Saul despite opportunities.

All right. I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to 2 Samuel, chapter 1. I'm actually going to bring the message which I should have brought to you last week. I preached a different message this morning and you may or may not get it. But the title of the message this morning that I preached was "Ears, Thumbs and Toes." So you might be interested in it. And I'm sure it'll be on the net before long. But look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to 2 Samuel chapter 1. The title of this message is "How the Mighty Have Fallen." So if you look in 2 Samuel 1 in verse 27, I'm just going to read this text momentarily. David says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 1:27

"How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"

This statement comes over David's lamentation.

Of the death of Saul and his son, Jonathan. So if you look in verse 17: "And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: (Also he bade them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!" And then he goes on down and he talks about Saul and Jonathan. And this elegy, then, is a deep testimony to the depth of David's sincere grief over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. He also taught that this lamentation was to be made and taught to the children of Israel as well. Now, you have to remember that Saul treated David as an enemy. He chased him many times, tried to kill him twice. He threw a javelin at him, tried to pin him to the wall. The interesting thing is, although Saul treated David as an enemy, David never retaliated in kind. And David maintained a biblical attitude towards Saul's wickedness the whole time. I want you to look at it, if you would, in 1 Samuel chapter 24. David had an excellent opportunity to kill Saul and he refused to do so. So in 1 Samuel chapter 24, beginning there with verse 4, look at what the Bible says. Saul now has come into the cave where David and his men are hiding, and he does not know that David and his men are there.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 24:4-6

"And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt."

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:8-11

"And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD."

So David now had a perfect opportunity to kill Saul, and he refused to do so. In fact, just cutting off the skirt of his garment convicted him as well. If you would turn right over to 1 Samuel chapter 26. And let's begin reading there with verse 8. 1 Samuel chapter 26 and verse 8. Again, David has a perfect opportunity to kill Saul. Saul and his men have been chasing David, and now they are at rest at night, and God has caused a deep sleep to fall upon Saul and all of those surrounding him. And so, look if you would in verse 8:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:8-11

"Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day."

"Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go."

Now, here's the interesting thing. Although David's heart smote him back in 1 Samuel chapter 24, now when you get to 1 Samuel chapter 26, it's Abishai. And Abishai is a warrior and he's begging David, "Please," he said, "just let me kill him. I will smite him one time." In other words, let me put it to you very plainly. He is saying, "He will feel a thing. I won't have to smite him a second time. I know how to kill him. Let me kill him." And of course, David said, "No, you can't do that."

Saul's Rejection by God

Saul was chosen and anointed by God but rejected due to disobedience, illustrating that God can reject individuals He once used.

Now, the interesting thing is you have to understand that Saul was chosen by God to be king. He was anointed by God to be king. He actually became king. And yet it was because of Saul's disobedience, his wickedness, and his rebellion that he was rejected by God to be king after he was already anointed. If you look back in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel 15. This is where God had sent Saul on the mission to kill the Amalekites. And this is where Saul partially obeyed in the sense that he killed all of that which was vile, but he saved the king Agag of the Amalekites alive and the best of the oxen and the best of the sheep. And he just simply would not kill everything. In fact, the word of God came to him and told him he was rejected. So if you look at verse 25, Saul is speaking to Samuel.

"Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou." So Saul now has been rejected by God, having been chosen by God, having been anointed by God, and initially having been used by God because God did use him to defeat the Philistines and to drive the Philistines away from the people of Israel. But now he has disobeyed God and God has rejected him.

Now, here's an interesting thing. Saul not only lost his life, but he also lost his kingdom because of his rebellion against God. I want to point something out. What is true of individuals, which we've just looked at in the life of Saul, is also true in nations. God is free to choose whomever He will. God is free to dispose whomever He will, whether it be individuals or whether it be nations. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 18. We read this passage several weeks back, but I want you to look at it again in light of what I'm talking about. Jeremiah chapter 18, to show you we're no longer talking about individuals. We're talking about nations. So look at it in Jeremiah 18, beginning there with verse 1. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold."

God's Sovereignty Over Nations

Using Jeremiah 18, Weaver explains that just as God deals with individuals, He also builds up or tears down nations based on their obedience.

"He wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

Now look what he says. "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." "Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."

Now, God said, "Look, just like the clay is in the potter's hand, so the nations are in my hand. Just like the potter can make the vessel into anything that he desires, God says, I can make nations and kingdoms into anything that I desire. I can either build them up or I could destroy them. I can pull them down."

Now, I want you to think about the title of this message, because there's going to be a lot of history that I'm going to give you just shortly. But think about the title, "How the Mighty Have Fallen." I'm sure that everyone in this room will understand that things have changed greatly in America. In fact, I can tell you that things have changed greatly since I was a boy and since I was a young man.

America's Moral Decline

Weaver describes the progressive worsening of American society, including embrace of socialism, destruction of family, and impotent churches.

And I've often thought that it was my generation that tasted the real last little bit of freedom that we really had in this country. But things have gotten progressively worse. We have increased in wickedness. We've embraced socialism and communism. We've debauched our economy. We've destroyed manliness and femininity. We have supported laziness and indolence by an unbiblical and an ungodly welfare system. And we've also destroyed an already unbiblical educational system that turns out dysfunctional illiterates by the thousands every year.

And I could give illustration after illustration. But think about this. Our churches are also impotent. I read a quote this week. Someone has said, "Christianity has changed," and someone objected and said, "No, Christianity has not changed. Christians have changed. Christianity is really the truth and the same. It's just Christians who have changed." We've perverted the gospel. We have destroyed God's law. We've turned our backs upon the Lord. But our churches are impotent in one sense of the word. Christianity is hated and despised.

Secularism and humanism seemingly have triumphed. They're not just on the rise. They're in control. Governments, both state and federal, think about this, are run by misfits, intellectually challenged morons, enemies, traitors, and treasonous individuals.

Now, I bet there may be one or two exceptions, but by and large, that's an accurate statement of governments. Whether you're talking about the federal government in Washington, D.C., state governments in Atlanta, Georgia, Tallahassee, Florida—it doesn't matter. Usually they are as corrupt as they could be. So here's the question that you have to ask. How have we gotten in the mess that we're in? How did we get in the state

Biblical Curses for Disobedience

Deuteronomy 28 and Jeremiah 32 show that disobedience brings curses, including strangers rising to rule, and God turning His back on the nation.

For instance, look in verse 1, God said, "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Then if you read down through verse 14, you will find all the blessings if we are obedient. Now, if you will get to verse 15, God says it like this: "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field." And you can read all of the curses now all the way to the end of this chapter down to about verse 68.

Now, I want to call your attention to verse 43. Let's start reading there. This is part of God's curses for disobedience. In verse 43, He says this: "The stranger that is within thee"—and by the way, remember, if you would please, a stranger in the Bible is an alien, not just someone from a different country, but someone who holds a different culture, a different faith. So he says in verse 43, "The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;"

"Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee." And then he said, "The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from afar." And so notice, if you would, what God is saying: the enemy that's within, the stranger that's within, is going to get up very high. You're going to get down very low. He's going to be the head. You're going to be the tail.

So this is part of the curse for disobedience. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. I want you to see the imagery that is given to us on how this actually appears to God. Notice in Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 33. Jeremiah 32, verse 33. Look at this. Look what God says. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 32.

He said, "Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them." "Yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." So if you are talking to me as sincerely and as genuinely as you possibly could, and I just turn my back on you and I let you speak to my back and not to my face, you would consider that an insult. And rightly so. Because I would be saying to you, "I'm not interested in what you have to say.

I don't even want to listen to you." And this is what God is saying. "I sent men to teach you, but you turn to me the back. You would not listen." Now, hang on. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 18. This has already happened. But notice what God is going to say to these same people. Look in Jeremiah chapter 18, in verse 17. Jeremiah 18, verse 17. Ah, God says concerning these same people:

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:17

"I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity."

So now God says, "You've turned your back on me. Now, when your calamity falls upon you and you're screaming and crying, I'll turn my back on you. You would not listen to me. I will not listen to you."

That is the lex talionis. That is the law of retribution. Now, if you would turn right on back to Isaiah chapter 63, just a few pages over. Isaiah 63. And look, if you would please, at verse 10. Isaiah 63 and verse 10. Look at what he said. I preached an entire message just on this one verse. Look what the Bible says: "But they rebelled"—we're talking about Judah, Jerusalem, Israel—

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 63:10

"but they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit."

"Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." So they vexed God. They turned their backs upon Him. He turned His back upon them and He turned to be their enemy and He fought against them. You remember when Judah was being attacked by Babylon, it was Zedekiah who went to Jerusalem—or sent word, not to Jerusalem—Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah and said, "Pray for us that maybe the Lord will turn this people away from us." And God told Zedekiah through Jeremiah, God said, "He's not turning them back. He's going to fight against you himself. And all these kings are going to assemble themselves in the gates of Jerusalem."

America's Christian Foundations

Weaver reads from early state constitutions (North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, etc.) requiring Christian faith for public office, demonstrating the nation's Christian roots.

So let me just begin by showing you a few samples. I'm going to come back to one of them, but I want you to think about this. "How have the mighty fallen?" I want you to think how far we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. Here's the Constitution of the state of North Carolina in 1776: "There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this state in preference to any other."

Now listen to the next article, Article 32: "That no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority of the Old and New Testaments or shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of this state shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this state." If you did not adhere to the inspiration authority of the word of God, and if you were not a Christian, you could not hold office. Now, you did not have to be a Baptist. You didn't have to be an Anglican. You didn't have to be a Presbyterian, but you had to be a Christian.

Now, here's the Constitution of the state of South Carolina, 1778. This is Article 38: "That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God and a future state of rewards and punishments and that God is to be publicly worshipped shall be freely tolerated. That all denominations of Christians in this state demeaning themselves peacefully and faithfully shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges." In other words, you had to be a Christian and it didn't matter whether you were a Presbyterian or Baptist or Episcopalian. You had to be a Christian.

Now, normally we think of the north as being apostate and it did become apostate later on. That is for sure. But I want you to listen—as liberal as Massachusetts is today. Here is the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780: "The governor shall be chosen annually. And no person shall be eligible to this office unless at the time of his election, he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion." Here's chapter 6, article 1. Now, listen: "All persons elected to state office or to the legislature must make and subscribe the following declaration: I, [blank], do declare that I believe the Christian religion and have a firm persuasion of its truth." Here's Article 3: "And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves peacefully and as good subjects of the Commonwealth shall be equally under the protection of the law and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law." So once again, they said you have to be a Christian and no, there's not going to be a state religion. But everyone is going to be tolerated as long as they adhere that the Bible is the word of God and the Christian religion is true. Here you go. Here's the Constitution of the state of New Hampshire 1784: "And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly as good citizens of the state shall be equally under the protection of the laws and no subordination." It's the same thing. A lot of these states had exactly the same wording, but every one of them is requiring Christians to be rulers.

Here is the constitution of the state of Vermont, 1786: "And each member of the legislature, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration: I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Christian religion. And no further or other religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this state." But no, you had to say—you had to affirm that you believe the Bible and that you had a firm faith in the Christian religion. Not amazing.

Now, I'm going to give you another one right now. This is the constitution of the state of Tennessee. We're going to come back to this one. I could come back to the state of Vermont, its constitution, but I'm going to come back to the constitution of Tennessee. This was the original constitution. Well, I say the original, it was 1796, but listen to Article 8, Section 2: "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state." So if you deny the scripture, if you deny the Lord Jesus Christ, you could not hold office.

Now, John Jay, who happened to be the very first Supreme Court justice, he was appointed by George Washington. He was also a founding father. He was a member of the first and the second Continental Congress. He was instrumental in causing the Constitution to be ratified. He, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, wrote the Federalist Papers. And here is what John Jay said, October the 12th, 1816. He said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." That was the very first Supreme Court justice. Here's the Constitution of the state of Mississippi. This is 1817: "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."

Now, note, if you would, please. Every one of these that are read so far required a belief in the word of God and required a faith in Christianity and particularly a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, someone is going to say, "But, you know, the Constitution forbids a religious test. How in the world could these states come up with this and have this in their constitutions if the constitution of the United States says there is to be no religious test?" Well, here is the wording of the United States constitution, Article 6. It says this: "The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Now, the Constitution, of course,

in 1787, you understood that the term "religion" referred to the different religious groups or the different denominations of Christianity. Now, when it said that there was to be no religious test in 1787, it meant that there was not to be any denominational test. In other words, the United States Constitution was saying we're not going to have the Baptist religion as our state religion. We're not going to have the Presbyterian. We're not going to have the Anglican. We're not going to be like England. No, we're—there's not going to be a religious test. And so Article 6 did not mean that there was to be an exclusion of Christianity or denial of Christianity or that it had to be a secular government. All it meant was you do not have to be of a certain persuasion, denominational persuasion, to have an office in this state.

You need to be a Christian. Now, I'm going to go back, I told you, to the Tennessee Constitution, this in 1796. Please understand 1787, the Constitution, 1789, the Constitution is written, approved, accepted, etc. So in 1796, the Tennessee Constitution says this in Article 8 and Section 2.

"No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state." So if you deny God, if you deny judgment, you cannot hold any office in the state of Tennessee. That is Article 8, Section 2. Here is Article 11, Section 4: "That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state." And that's something. In Article 8, they said no person who denies the being of God can hold any office. No person who denies judgment can hold any office. And then in Article 11, they said no religious test. Which is a religious test that had nothing to do with believing in Jesus Christ or having Christianity as your basic foundation. What it did have to do with, there was no denominational test. So a fixed state of religious beliefs for the office holder is prescribed in Article Chapter 8, while at the same time in Chapter 11, it's saying there's not going to be a religious test,

which would be a denominational test. So here it is. Listen carefully. Prescribing a requirement professing "I, [blank], do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God blessed forevermore. I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration"—this was the Constitution of Delaware in 1776—was not considered a religious test. Because it was not a denominational test. So when you think about this, that God can either build nations or God can destroy nations. And those who turn their backs upon God, God turned His back upon them.

Tocqueville's Observations on American Christianity

Quoting Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America,' Weaver shows that in the 1830s, Christianity was seen as inseparable from liberty and the foremost political institution.

And you look at where we were and now where we are. Now here's what I want to do. I want to skip forward into the 1800s. Some of you have heard about, you've probably never read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." Alexis de Tocqueville was a French social scientist who traveled to the United States in 1831. And he wrote a two-part work, "Democracy in America," in 1835 and 1840. And I'm going to give you some quotes. I hope it just shocks the living daylights out of you. But here they are. You know, de Tocqueville wrote, "Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention. And the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things to which I was unaccustomed.

In France, I'd almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country." Hang on. "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of the one without the other." Now, let me just stop right there. Haven't he finished his sentence? But he said the Americans conceive of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds, they cannot possibly think of one without the other. You know, I think there's a good scripture that would really explain that.

2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17:

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 3:17

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

So the opposite is also true: where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is no liberty. So here's what he said. Let me go back. He said it like this: "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other. And with them, this conviction does not spring from a barren, traditionary faith, which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than live." In other words, he says this is a living thing. Then he goes on, he says, "Religion in America"—and by the way, back in those days, religion equaled Christianity. OK, "Religion in America" or "Christianity in America must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country.

For if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it." Did you hear that? He called religion or Christianity in America the foremost political institution. Then he said this: "This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but belongs to the whole nation." Wow. So everybody in the 1800s understood this. Everybody in the 1700s understood this. Well, he went on and said this: "The sects or the denominations that exist in the United States are innumerable.

Now, listen, they all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the creator. But they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each denomination adores the deity in its own peculiar manner, but all denominations preach the same moral law in the name of God. Moreover, all the sects or denominations of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same." Wow! So if you were in Massachusetts, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Vermont, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in South Carolina, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Pennsylvania, there'd be Christian morality.

He said it didn't matter where you went. It didn't matter which denomination you listened to. All of them agreed on Christian morality. I wonder how that works out today. Especially when you have churches now that are having gay parades and LGBTQ and whatever else was there. I'm just pointing out the fact we're in the world is Christian morality. We've got to understand from where we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. De Tocqueville went on and said this: "In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious"—or Christian. "The sovereign authority is Christian. There is no country in the whole world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence than in America." I'm reading—this is what he's saying. "America is still the place where the Christian religion has kept the greatest real power over men's souls, and nothing better demonstrates how useful and natural it is to man since the country where it now has the widest sway is the most enlightened and the freest." Let that sink in.

You lose Christianity, you lose freedom. Oh, I love this. In August of 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through Chester County, New York, and he had the opportunity to listen to a court case. He writes, "While I was in America, a witness who happened to be called to the court of the county of Chester declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of a soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of court in what he was about to say." He continued. "The newspaper related the fact without any further comment. The New York Spectator of August 23rd, 1831 wrote this: 'The Court of the Common Pleas of Chester County, New York, a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God, and that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice, and that he knew of no case in a Christian country where a witness has been permitted to testify without such belief.'" That's shocking, isn't it? Wow. We're talking 1831. Judge said, "I can't believe there's a man who doesn't believe in God." You couldn't even be an atheist and be a witness. Nobody would believe you.

In 1895, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert compiled a lot of dictionary quotes, and here he quotes de Tocqueville and said, de Tocqueville said this: "Christianity is the companion of liberty in all of its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims." So de Tocqueville understood that Christianity was basically the foundation of this country. Now, there was a contemporary of de Tocqueville who traveled with him across America.

Tocqueville's Prediction of Despotism

Weaver reads Tocqueville's prediction that Americans would lose freedom gradually through government overreach, debasement, and dependence, which he sees fulfilled today.

Now, let me tell you something else that Tocqueville did. This is astounding. De Tocqueville basically predicted how we as Americans would eventually lose our freedoms. This is based upon his observations. I'm not saying this is prophetic. Neither am I saying what he's written is biblical, not saying that at all. But what I am saying is what he said is basically accurate. Listen to what he said, telling us how we will eventually lose our freedom. He said, and I'm quoting, "It would happen a little at a time."

"I had noted in my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to the American model could lay itself open to the establishment of despotism with unusual ease." Listen: "It would debase men without tormenting them." Now, let me just stop right there. "It would debase men without tormenting them." Hmm. Let's see. If you've never read Rushdoony's book, "The American Indian," I would encourage you to do so. It's only a small book. Rushdoony was a missionary to the American Indians for 11 years. Most people do not know that. It's a wonderful book. And in that book, Rushdoony explains how the federal government destroyed the American Indian. The Indians originally were great hunters, great warriors.

Now they're drunkards and dopeheads. It's all because of what the federal government did to the American Indian. In the same book, Rushdoony shows how the federal government has destroyed the American blacks. When I was a boy, we would have as many as 200 blacks a day working on our farms. They would work. Not today. In that book also he tells how the white race is being destroyed.

Look at the welfare system. You get paid for having babies out of wedlock. You get paid for not working. Here's what he's saying now. He said, "It would debase men without tormenting them." What happened to the mighty hunting powers of the American Indian? How he could read tracks, how he could read broken leaves and broken limbs? Not anymore. "It would debase men without tormenting them. Men all alike and equal turned in upon themselves," now listen, "...in a restless search for their petty, vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls."

You remember the bread and circuses in Rome. This is what he's saying. He said, "Above these men that are being debased, and allowed to fulfill all of their lusts, above these men stands an immense and protective power." Listen: "It prefers its citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they have only enjoyment in mind. It restricts the activity of free will within a narrow range and gradually removes autonomy itself from each citizen. The ruling power, having taken each citizen one by one in its powerful grasp, spreads its arms over the whole society, covering the surface of social life with a network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules." Wear your mask. Social distance. You can't go out.

"It does not break men's wills, but it does soften and bend and control them. It constantly opposes what actions they perform. It inhibits, represses, drains, snuffs out, dulls so much effort that finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a flock of timid and hard-working animals with the government as shepherd, a single protective and all-powerful government. Individual intervention is suppressed. It is in the details that we run the risk of enslaving men."

Then he says this: "For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than in the slightest." I want to stop there. There's not much more, but I want you to listen. He says, "For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than that in slightest." Let me explain this to you. Because every great thing, every big thing is made up of small things. I remember when I was in graduate school. We were in Berkhof's systematic theology. And we were discussing the sovereignty of God. And I was an old man when I was there—when I say I was an old man, I was young, but I was still older than most of those students that were there because I was a married man and had children. But I never will forget we were discussing the sovereignty of God.

And I usually refer to him as a kid. He was taller than I am, but he was a younger man. He raised his hand and he said, "Dr. Neal," he said, "I believe that God is sovereign in all the big things, but not the little things." And before I could catch myself, I said out loud, "Oh, what utter blasphemy." And of course, everybody looked at me. Dr. Neal looked at me. And I looked up at Dr. Neal. I said, "Dr. Neal, I'm sorry for that outburst.

But I said, that is such a blasphemous statement. I said, if you don't—if you do not correct it, I said, I am—because every big thing is made up of a series of small things. And if there's anything over which God is not sovereign, then God is not God. He's not in control." Dr. Neal said, "Mr. Weaver's right." And so this is what he's saying. "For my part, I'd be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than the slightest." In other words, when we begin to give in to the little things, all of a sudden, it's the big thing that's gone. Because every big thing is made up of a series of little things. Listen to this. Then he goes on to say, "Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day.

Look up the word "license" in Black's Law Dictionary. Or Bouvier's Law Dictionary. You know what the word "license" means? Here's the definition: permission from a competent authority to do that which otherwise would be unlawful to do. That marriage licenses are a recent invention. People got married for centuries before marriage licenses ever came along. People drove before driver's licenses ever came along. To my horror, years ago, I'm talking years ago, probably 30 to 40 years ago, I had a pastor friend's son in Fairfax, Virginia, who was arrested for cutting down a tree on his own property without a permit.

I could not believe it. So he said, "Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day. It constantly irks them until they give up the exercise of their will and enfeebles their spirit. It will be useless to call upon those very citizens who become so dependent upon central government to choose from time to time the representative of this government." He concluded with this: "Increasing despotism in the administrative sphere. They reckon citizens are incompetent. It is difficult to imagine how men who have completely given up the habit of self-government could successfully choose those who should do it for them. The vices of those who govern and the ineptitude of those governed would soon bring it to ruin and revert it to its abasement to a single master." All I'm trying to say is this. He's hit the nail right on the head when you look down through history and where we are today. The truth of God's word demonstrates how far we have fallen. The truth of God's word shows us how God can turn His back on a nation when that nation turns their back upon God.

Call to Repentance

Weaver concludes that unless individuals, families, churches, and the nation repent, America faces destruction, and he prays for God's mercy.

We fight against Him, He fights against us. The Bible tells you in Romans chapter 1 in verse 28, talking about those people who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. In other words, all God has to do to destroy a nation is to let us do our own thing. All God has to do to destroy a man is just let him go. He'll destroy himself. And I hear all the time, people cannot think clearly. We can't think clearly biblically. We can't think clearly constitutionally. We can't think clearly ethically and morally. Why?

The confusion and the lack of education in truth is purposeful, I do believe. Here's the second. Unless we repent as individuals, as families, as churches, and as a nation, we're going to be right back under a George. It may not be George III. It might be a George Soros. Or it might be a George Klaus Schwab. Or it could be anyone who's ruling us for our good, for our benefit.

You see what I'm saying? We have lost the concept of freedom. We've lost the concept of liberty. And because we've lost those two things, it indicates that we've lost the truth of the word of God. I've been teaching on our Bible study on Thursday night, going through Romans 13 with some people who've never heard it. And I want to tell you, I've had some of the most surprising statements from those individuals. "Why have we never heard this? Why have we never been taught this?" The truth of the matter is this, folks.

If you really perceive how far we have fallen—number one, it ought to really scare you. Number two, it ought to really make you cry out and pray to God. The foundation of this country was the Christian religion. And now Christianity has been usurped with secularism, humanism and every other ism under the sun. We need to turn our face to God and ask forgiveness and begin to obey His word. How have the mighty fallen? As individuals, as families, as churches, as societies, as nations. Europe is in worse condition than we are. I'm saying, if God is not merciful and we do not repent, we're in trouble up in our eyeballs. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Lord, for the warning. We thank You for the education. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to see how desperately we need Thee. How far we have fallen, Lord, and into what depths we have fallen as well. We're at the danger point. Lord, turn us, and we shall be turned. Quicken us, and we shall fall upon Thy name.

Give us Your grace and Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray, Amen. ♪ ♪ you

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Fall of the Mighty

Summary: The message centers on how individuals and nations that were once great can fall due to disobedience and turning away from God.

Evidence: Title 'How the Mighty Have Fallen' and repeated references to David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, and America's decline.

God's Sovereignty in Raising and Destroying Nations

Summary: God is like a potter who can build up or tear down nations based on their response to His word.

Evidence: Jeremiah 18:1-10 quoted and explained.

The Consequences of National Disobedience

Summary: Disobedience brings curses, including strangers ruling over the nation and God fighting against His own people.

Evidence: Deuteronomy 28:43-44, Jeremiah 32:33, Isaiah 63:10 cited.

America's Christian Heritage

Summary: Early American state constitutions explicitly required Christian faith for public office, showing the nation was founded on Christianity.

Evidence: Quotations from constitutions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, Mississippi, Delaware.

The Inseparability of Christianity and Liberty

Summary: Historical observers like Tocqueville noted that Americans intimately combined Christianity and liberty; loss of Christianity leads to loss of freedom.

Evidence: Tocqueville quotes: 'The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately...' and 2 Corinthians 3:17.

Gradual Loss of Freedom Through Government Overreach

Summary: Tocqueville predicted that despotism would come gradually by debasing men and increasing government control over small details of life.

Evidence: Extended Tocqueville quote about 'immense and protective power' and 'network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules.'

The Need for Repentance

Summary: The only remedy for national decline is repentance by individuals, families, churches, and the nation.

Evidence: Closing exhortation and prayer.

Key Arguments

David's righteous response to Saul prefigures God's dealings with nations

Summary: David never retaliated against Saul despite opportunities, recognizing Saul as the Lord's anointed; this illustrates a biblical attitude toward authority even when it is wicked.

Evidence: 1 Samuel 24 and 26 accounts of David sparing Saul.

God rejects those who reject Him, whether individuals or nations

Summary: Saul was rejected by God for disobedience; the same principle applies to nations as shown in Jeremiah 18.

Evidence: 1 Samuel 15:25-28 and Jeremiah 18:1-10.

America's current moral and political decay is a direct result of forsaking God

Summary: Weaver lists societal ills—socialism, debauched economy, destroyed manliness, impotent churches—as evidence of turning from God.

Evidence: Descriptions of America's decline from 11:17 to 13:29.

The Bible explicitly warns that disobedience leads to strangers ruling over a nation

Summary: Deuteronomy 28:43-44 predicts that the stranger within will rise high and lend to the native, becoming the head.

Evidence: Reading of Deuteronomy 28:43-44.

Early American law required Christian faith for civil office, proving the nation's Christian foundation

Summary: Multiple state constitutions from 1776-1817 explicitly required belief in God, the Bible, and Christianity for officeholders.

Evidence: Quotations from North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, Mississippi, Delaware constitutions.

The U.S. Constitution's 'no religious test' clause originally meant no denominational test, not exclusion of Christianity

Summary: Weaver argues that 'religion' in 1787 meant denomination, so Article VI only prohibited favoring one Christian sect over another.

Evidence: Explanation of Article VI and Tennessee Constitution's simultaneous requirement of Christian belief and prohibition of religious test.

Tocqueville observed that Christianity was the foremost political institution in America and essential to liberty

Summary: Tocqueville's writings show that in the 1830s, Christianity was universally seen as the foundation of American freedom and morality.

Evidence: Multiple Tocqueville quotes from 'Democracy in America.'

Loss of freedom occurs incrementally as government assumes control over small details of life

Summary: Tocqueville predicted that despotism would come by debasing men and regulating minor things, leading to dependence and loss of self-government.

Evidence: Tocqueville's prediction about 'immense and protective power' and 'subject in minor things.'

Scripture References

2 Samuel 1:27

Context: David's lament: 'How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!'

2 Samuel 1:17-19

Context: David's lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, teaching the children of Israel the use of the bow.

1 Samuel 24:4-6

Context: David cuts off Saul's skirt but refuses to kill him because Saul is the Lord's anointed.

1 Samuel 26:8-11

Context: David again spares Saul's life, refusing to stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed.

1 Samuel 15:25-28

Context: Saul rejected by God for disobedience; the kingdom torn from him.

Jeremiah 18:1-10

Context: The potter and the clay: God can build up or destroy nations based on their response.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

Context: Blessings for obedience.

Deuteronomy 28:15-68

Context: Curses for disobedience, including strangers rising to rule.

Jeremiah 32:32-33

Context: Israel turned their back on God despite His teaching.

Jeremiah 18:17

Context: God will show them the back and not the face in the day of calamity.

Isaiah 63:10

Context: They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Context: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Romans 1:28

Context: God gave them over to a reprobate mind because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.

Historical References

Constitution of North Carolina (1776)

Context: Required belief in God, Protestant religion, and divine authority of Old and New Testaments for office.

Constitution of South Carolina (1778)

Context: Required acknowledgment of one God and future state of rewards and punishments; Christians tolerated.

Constitution of Massachusetts (1780)

Context: Governor and state officers must declare themselves of the Christian religion.

Constitution of New Hampshire (1784)

Context: Similar requirement that officeholders be Christians.

Constitution of Vermont (1786)

Context: Legislators must profess belief in God, divine inspiration of Scriptures, and Christian religion.

Constitution of Tennessee (1796)

Context: No person denying God or future state of rewards and punishments shall hold office; also no religious test.

John Jay (first Supreme Court justice)

Context: Stated in 1816 that it is the duty of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for rulers.

Constitution of Mississippi (1817)

Context: Similar requirement denying office to those who deny God or future state of rewards and punishments.

Alexis de Tocqueville, 'Democracy in America' (1835, 1840)

Context: French social scientist observed that Christianity was the foremost political institution in America and intimately united with liberty.

Gustave de Beaumont, French historian and traveling companion of Tocqueville

Context: Observed that in America, anyone without religion would be excluded from civil employment and social relationships.

Important Quotes

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of the one without the other.

Significance: Captures Tocqueville's observation that early Americans saw Christianity and freedom as inseparable, a key point in Weaver's argument about America's decline.

It would debase men without tormenting them.

Significance: Tocqueville's prediction of how despotism would come gradually by degrading men while allowing them petty pleasures, which Weaver applies to modern America.

Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day. It constantly irks them until they give up the exercise of their will and enfeebles their spirit.

Significance: Highlights Tocqueville's warning that loss of freedom in small matters leads to total dependence on government.

For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than in the slightest.

Significance: Emphasizes that big freedoms are composed of small freedoms; losing small liberties leads to losing all.

No one in the United States believes that a man without religion could be an honest man.

Significance: De Beaumont's observation showing the complete integration of Christian faith and public trust in early America.

Discussion Questions

How does David's response to Saul in 1 Samuel 24 and 26 model a biblical attitude toward ungodly authority?

Context: Weaver contrasts David's refusal to harm Saul with modern attitudes toward government.

In what ways does Jeremiah 18's potter and clay analogy apply to nations today?

Context: Weaver uses this passage to argue that God can build up or destroy nations based on their obedience.

What evidence from early American state constitutions most surprised you about the Christian character of the nation's founding?

Context: Weaver reads multiple constitutions requiring Christian faith for office.

How does Tocqueville's observation that Americans 'combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately' challenge modern views of separation of church and state?

Context: Weaver quotes Tocqueville to show the historical link between Christianity and freedom.

Do you see Tocqueville's prediction of gradual despotism through 'subject in minor things' being fulfilled today? Give examples.

Context: Weaver applies Tocqueville's warning to modern government overreach.

What does it mean for God to 'turn His back' on a nation, and what are the signs that this may be happening?

Context: Weaver discusses Jeremiah 18:17 and Isaiah 63:10 in relation to America.

How should the church respond to the moral and spiritual decline described in this message?

Context: Weaver calls for repentance by individuals, families, churches, and the nation.

Applications

Recognize the depth of America's fall from its Christian foundations

Summary: Weaver urges listeners to understand how far the nation has fallen from its original Christian character, which should provoke fear and prayer.

Evidence: Weaver's statement: 'If you really perceive how far we have fallen—number one, it ought to really scare you. Number two, it ought to really make you cry out and pray to God.'

Repent as individuals, families, churches, and as a nation

Summary: The only remedy for national judgment is turning back to God in repentance and obedience.

Evidence: Weaver's closing exhortation: 'Unless we repent as individuals, as families, as churches, and as a nation, we're going to be right back under a George.'

Understand that loss of small freedoms leads to total loss of liberty

Summary: Weaver applies Tocqueville's warning that giving up minor liberties gradually leads to despotism, urging vigilance in all areas of life.

Evidence: Explanation of Tocqueville's quote about freedom in slight things being most important.

Cry out to God for mercy and revival

Summary: Weaver models prayer for God to turn the people back to Himself, acknowledging desperate need.

Evidence: Closing prayer: 'Lord, turn us, and we shall be turned. Quicken us, and we shall fall upon Thy name.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:15:35Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:48:44Z

Clean Transcript

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right. I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to 2 Samuel, chapter 1. I'm actually going to bring the message which I should have brought to you last week. I preached a different message this morning and you may or may not get it. But the title of the message this morning that I preached was "Ears, Thumbs and Toes." So you might be interested in it. And I'm sure it'll be on the net before long. But look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to 2 Samuel chapter 1. The title of this message is "How the Mighty Have Fallen." So if you look in 2 Samuel 1 in verse 27, I'm just going to read this text momentarily. David says, "How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" This statement comes over David's lamentation.
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Of the death of Saul and his son, Jonathan. So if you look in verse 17: "And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son: (Also he bade them teach the children of Israel the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.) The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!" And then he goes on down and he talks about Saul and Jonathan. And this elegy, then, is a deep testimony to the depth of David's sincere grief over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. He also taught that this lamentation was to be made and taught to the children of Israel as well. Now, you have to remember that Saul treated David as an enemy.
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He chased him many times, tried to kill him twice. He threw a javelin at him, tried to pin him to the wall. The interesting thing is, although Saul treated David as an enemy, David never retaliated in kind. And David maintained a biblical attitude towards Saul's wickedness the whole time. I want you to look at it, if you would, in 1 Samuel chapter 24. David had an excellent opportunity to kill Saul and he refused to do so. So in 1 Samuel chapter 24, beginning there with verse 4, look at what the Bible says. Saul now has come into the cave where David and his men are hiding, and he does not know that David and his men are there. "And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt."
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"And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD." So David now had a perfect opportunity to kill Saul, and he refused to do so. In fact, just cutting off the skirt of his garment convicted him as well. If you would turn right over to 1 Samuel chapter 26.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 8. 1 Samuel chapter 26 and verse 8. Again, David has a perfect opportunity to kill Saul. Saul and his men have been chasing David, and now they are at rest at night, and God has caused a deep sleep to fall upon Saul and all of those surrounding him. And so, look if you would in verse 8: "Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day."
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"Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless? David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go."
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Now, here's the interesting thing. Although David's heart smote him back in 1 Samuel chapter 24, now when you get to 1 Samuel chapter 26, it's Abishai. And Abishai is a warrior and he's begging David, "Please," he said, "just let me kill him. I will smite him one time." In other words, let me put it to you very plainly. He is saying, "He will feel a thing. I won't have to smite him a second time. I know how to kill him. Let me kill him." And of course, David said, "No, you can't do that."
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And he said, "Take your spear, take the cruse of water. And let's go." And of course, David called Saul and woke him up and said, "Look, I had the opportunity to kill you. I didn't." So David never, ever retaliated against him.
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Now, the interesting thing is you have to understand that Saul was chosen by God to be king. He was anointed by God to be king. He actually became king. And yet it was because of Saul's disobedience, his wickedness, and his rebellion that he was rejected by God to be king after he was already anointed. If you look back in your Bibles, 1 Samuel 15. 1 Samuel 15. This is where God had sent Saul on the mission to kill the Amalekites. And this is where Saul partially obeyed in the sense that he killed all of that which was vile, but he saved the king Agag of the Amalekites alive and the best of the oxen and the best of the sheep. And he just simply would not kill everything. In fact, the word of God came to him and told him he was rejected. So if you look at verse 25, Saul is speaking to Samuel.
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"Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD. And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel. And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. And Samuel said unto him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou." So Saul now has been rejected by God, having been chosen by God, having been anointed by God, and initially having been used by God because God did use him to defeat the Philistines and to drive the Philistines away from the people of Israel. But now he has disobeyed God and God has rejected him.
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Now, here's an interesting thing. Saul not only lost his life, but he also lost his kingdom because of his rebellion against God. I want to point something out. What is true of individuals, which we've just looked at in the life of Saul, is also true in nations. God is free to choose whomever He will. God is free to dispose whomever He will, whether it be individuals or whether it be nations. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 18. We read this passage several weeks back, but I want you to look at it again in light of what I'm talking about. Jeremiah chapter 18, to show you we're no longer talking about individuals. We're talking about nations. So look at it in Jeremiah 18, beginning there with verse 1. "The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold."
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"He wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."
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Now look what he says. "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them."
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"Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."
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Now, God said, "Look, just like the clay is in the potter's hand, so the nations are in my hand. Just like the potter can make the vessel into anything that he desires, God says, I can make nations and kingdoms into anything that I desire. I can either build them up or I could destroy them. I can pull them down."
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Now, I want you to think about the title of this message, because there's going to be a lot of history that I'm going to give you just shortly. But think about the title, "How the Mighty Have Fallen." I'm sure that everyone in this room will understand that things have changed greatly in America. In fact, I can tell you that things have changed greatly since I was a boy and since I was a young man.
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And I've often thought that it was my generation that tasted the real last little bit of freedom that we really had in this country. But things have gotten progressively worse. We have increased in wickedness. We've embraced socialism and communism. We've debauched our economy. We've destroyed manliness and femininity. We have supported laziness and indolence by an unbiblical and an ungodly welfare system. And we've also destroyed an already unbiblical educational system that turns out dysfunctional illiterates by the thousands every year.
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And I could give illustration after illustration. But think about this. Our churches are also impotent. I read a quote this week. Someone has said, "Christianity has changed," and someone objected and said, "No, Christianity has not changed. Christians have changed. Christianity is really the truth and the same. It's just Christians who have changed." We've perverted the gospel. We have destroyed God's law. We've turned our backs upon the Lord. But our churches are impotent in one sense of the word. Christianity is hated and despised.
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Secularism and humanism seemingly have triumphed. They're not just on the rise. They're in control. Governments, both state and federal, think about this, are run by misfits, intellectually challenged morons, enemies, traitors, and treasonous individuals.
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Now, I bet there may be one or two exceptions, but by and large, that's an accurate statement of governments. Whether you're talking about the federal government in Washington, D.C., state governments in Atlanta, Georgia, Tallahassee, Florida—it doesn't matter. Usually they are as corrupt as they could be. So here's the question that you have to ask. How have we gotten in the mess that we're in? How did we get in the state
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in which we are now existing? Now, the short answer is, of course, we have forsaken God and God's law. We've turned our backs upon Him. That is for sure. But, you know, the problem is this. Most of us have never realized the depth from which we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. So I want you to look in your Bibles very quickly to Deuteronomy chapter 28. You'll see basically the same truth in Leviticus chapter 26. But if you want to know about the curses of God and the blessings of God, you need to read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. When you get to Deuteronomy chapter 28, the very first 14 verses deal with the blessings for obedience.
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For instance, look in verse 1, God said, "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Then if you read down through verse 14, you will find all the blessings if we are obedient. Now, if you will get to verse 15, God says it like this: "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field." And you can read all of the curses now all the way to the end of this chapter down to about verse 68.
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Now, I want to call your attention to verse 43. Let's start reading there. This is part of God's curses for disobedience. In verse 43, He says this: "The stranger that is within thee"—and by the way, remember, if you would please, a stranger in the Bible is an alien, not just someone from a different country, but someone who holds a different culture, a different faith. So he says in verse 43, "The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;"
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"Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee." And then he said, "The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from afar." And so notice, if you would, what God is saying: the enemy that's within, the stranger that's within, is going to get up very high. You're going to get down very low. He's going to be the head. You're going to be the tail.
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So this is part of the curse for disobedience. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. I want you to see the imagery that is given to us on how this actually appears to God. Notice in Jeremiah chapter 32 and verse 33. Jeremiah 32, verse 33. Look at this. Look what God says. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 32.
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He said, "Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them."
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"Yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction." So if you are talking to me as sincerely and as genuinely as you possibly could, and I just turn my back on you and I let you speak to my back and not to my face, you would consider that an insult. And rightly so. Because I would be saying to you, "I'm not interested in what you have to say.
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I don't even want to listen to you." And this is what God is saying. "I sent men to teach you, but you turn to me the back. You would not listen." Now, hang on. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 18. This has already happened. But notice what God is going to say to these same people. Look in Jeremiah chapter 18, in verse 17. Jeremiah 18, verse 17. Ah, God says concerning these same people: "I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." So now God says, "You've turned your back on me. Now, when your calamity falls upon you and you're screaming and crying, I'll turn my back on you. You would not listen to me. I will not listen to you."
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That is the lex talionis. That is the law of retribution.
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Now, if you would turn right on back to Isaiah chapter 63, just a few pages over. Isaiah 63. And look, if you would please, at verse 10. Isaiah 63 and verse 10. Look at what he said. I preached an entire message just on this one verse. Look what the Bible says: "But they rebelled"—we're talking about Judah, Jerusalem, Israel—"but they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit."
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"Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them." So they vexed God. They turned their backs upon Him. He turned His back upon them and He turned to be their enemy and He fought against them. You remember when Judah was being attacked by Babylon, it was Zedekiah who went to Jerusalem—or sent word, not to Jerusalem—Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah and said, "Pray for us that maybe the Lord will turn this people away from us." And God told Zedekiah through Jeremiah, God said, "He's not turning them back. He's going to fight against you himself. And all these kings are going to assemble themselves in the gates of Jerusalem."
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And that's exactly what happened. Now, here's what I'd like to do for the next little while. I want to share with you some of the original charters and constitutions of the original colonies. You've heard me say this before, and I have copies of all of them. And you're going to find that they were basically the same. If you were an early colonial and you wanted to hold office in this country, you could not hold office unless you were a Christian and unless you adhered to the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments and you confessed faith in Jesus Christ.
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So let me just begin by showing you a few samples. I'm going to come back to one of them, but I want you to think about this. "How have the mighty fallen?" I want you to think how far we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. Here's the Constitution of the state of North Carolina in 1776: "There shall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination in this state in preference to any other."
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Now listen to the next article, Article 32: "That no person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion or the divine authority of the Old and New Testaments or shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of this state shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this state." If you did not adhere to the inspiration authority of the word of God, and if you were not a Christian, you could not hold office.
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Now, you did not have to be a Baptist. You didn't have to be an Anglican. You didn't have to be a Presbyterian, but you had to be a Christian.
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Now, here's the Constitution of the state of South Carolina, 1778. This is Article 38: "That all persons and religious societies who acknowledge that there is one God and a future state of rewards and punishments and that God is to be publicly worshipped shall be freely tolerated. That all denominations of Christians in this state demeaning themselves peacefully and faithfully shall enjoy equal religious and civil privileges." In other words, you had to be a Christian and it didn't matter whether you were a Presbyterian or Baptist or Episcopalian. You had to be a Christian.
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Now, normally we think of the north as being apostate and it did become apostate later on. That is for sure. But I want you to listen—as liberal as Massachusetts is today. Here is the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1780: "The governor shall be chosen annually. And no person shall be eligible to this office unless at the time of his election, he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion."
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Here's chapter 6, article 1. Now, listen: "All persons elected to state office or to the legislature must make and subscribe the following declaration: I, [blank], do declare that I believe the Christian religion and have a firm persuasion of its truth." Here's Article 3: "And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves peacefully and as good subjects of the Commonwealth shall be equally under the protection of the law and no subordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law." So once again, they said you have to be a Christian and no, there's not going to be a state religion. But everyone is going to be tolerated as long as they adhere that the Bible is the word of God and the Christian religion is true. Here you go. Here's the Constitution of the state of New Hampshire 1784: "And every denomination of Christians demeaning themselves quietly as good citizens of the state shall be equally under the protection of the laws and no subordination." It's the same thing. A lot of these states had exactly the same wording, but every one of them is requiring Christians to be rulers.
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Here is the constitution of the state of Vermont, 1786: "And each member of the legislature, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration: I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Christian religion. And no further or other religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this state." But no, you had to say—you had to affirm that you believe the Bible and that you had a firm faith in the Christian religion. Not amazing.
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Now, I'm going to give you another one right now. This is the constitution of the state of Tennessee. We're going to come back to this one. I could come back to the state of Vermont, its constitution, but I'm going to come back to the constitution of Tennessee. This was the original constitution. Well, I say the original, it was 1796, but listen to Article 8, Section 2: "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state." So if you deny the scripture, if you deny the Lord Jesus Christ, you could not hold office.
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Now, John Jay, who happened to be the very first Supreme Court justice, he was appointed by George Washington. He was also a founding father. He was a member of the first and the second Continental Congress. He was instrumental in causing the Constitution to be ratified. He, along with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, wrote the Federalist Papers. And here is what John Jay said, October the 12th, 1816.
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He said, "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." That was the very first Supreme Court justice. Here's the Constitution of the state of Mississippi. This is 1817: "No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishments shall hold any office in the civil department of this state."
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Now, note, if you would, please. Every one of these that are read so far required a belief in the word of God and required a faith in Christianity and particularly a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, someone is going to say, "But, you know, the Constitution forbids a religious test. How in the world could these states come up with this and have this in their constitutions if the constitution of the United States says there is to be no religious test?" Well, here is the wording of the United States constitution, Article 6. It says this: "The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Now, the Constitution, of course,
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in 1787, you understood that the term "religion" referred to the different religious groups or the different denominations of Christianity. Now, when it said that there was to be no religious test in 1787, it meant that there was not to be any denominational test. In other words, the United States Constitution was saying we're not going to have the Baptist religion as our state religion. We're not going to have the Presbyterian. We're not going to have the Anglican. We're not going to be like England. No, we're—there's not going to be a religious test. And so Article 6 did not mean that there was to be an exclusion of Christianity or denial of Christianity or that it had to be a secular government. All it meant was you do not have to be of a certain persuasion, denominational persuasion, to have an office in this state.
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You need to be a Christian. Now, I'm going to go back, I told you, to the Tennessee Constitution, this in 1796. Please understand 1787, the Constitution, 1789, the Constitution is written, approved, accepted, etc. So in 1796, the Tennessee Constitution says this in Article 8 and Section 2.
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"No person who denies the being of God or a future state of rewards and punishment shall hold any office in the civil department of this state." So if you deny God, if you deny judgment, you cannot hold any office in the state of Tennessee. That is Article 8, Section 2. Here is Article 11, Section 4: "That no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under this state." And that's something. In Article 8, they said no person who denies the being of God can hold any office. No person who denies judgment can hold any office. And then in Article 11, they said no religious test. Which is a religious test that had nothing to do with believing in Jesus Christ or having Christianity as your basic foundation. What it did have to do with, there was no denominational test. So a fixed state of religious beliefs for the office holder is prescribed in Article Chapter 8, while at the same time in Chapter 11, it's saying there's not going to be a religious test,
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which would be a denominational test. So here it is. Listen carefully. Prescribing a requirement professing "I, [blank], do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God blessed forevermore. I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration"—this was the Constitution of Delaware in 1776—was not considered a religious test. Because it was not a denominational test. So when you think about this, that God can either build nations or God can destroy nations. And those who turn their backs upon God, God turned His back upon them.
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And you look at where we were and now where we are. Now here's what I want to do. I want to skip forward into the 1800s. Some of you have heard about, you've probably never read Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." Alexis de Tocqueville was a French social scientist who traveled to the United States in 1831. And he wrote a two-part work, "Democracy in America," in 1835 and 1840.
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And I'm going to give you some quotes. I hope it just shocks the living daylights out of you. But here they are. You know, de Tocqueville wrote, "Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention. And the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things to which I was unaccustomed.
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In France, I'd almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country." Hang on. "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of the one without the other."
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Now, let me just stop right there. Haven't he finished his sentence? But he said the Americans conceive of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds, they cannot possibly think of one without the other. You know, I think there's a good scripture that would really explain that.
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2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." So the opposite is also true: where the Spirit of the Lord is not, there is no liberty. So here's what he said. Let me go back. He said it like this: "The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.
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And with them, this conviction does not spring from a barren, traditionary faith, which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than live." In other words, he says this is a living thing. Then he goes on, he says, "Religion in America"—and by the way, back in those days, religion equaled Christianity. OK, "Religion in America" or "Christianity in America must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country.
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For if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it." Did you hear that? He called religion or Christianity in America the foremost political institution. Then he said this: "This opinion is not peculiar to a class of citizens or a party, but belongs to the whole nation." Wow. So everybody in the 1800s understood this. Everybody in the 1700s understood this. Well, he went on and said this: "The sects or the denominations that exist in the United States are innumerable.
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Now, listen, they all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the creator. But they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each denomination adores the deity in its own peculiar manner, but all denominations preach the same moral law in the name of God. Moreover, all the sects or denominations of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same." Wow! So if you were in Massachusetts, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Vermont, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in South Carolina, there'd be Christian morality. If you were in Pennsylvania, there'd be Christian morality.
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He said it didn't matter where you went. It didn't matter which denomination you listened to. All of them agreed on Christian morality. I wonder how that works out today. Especially when you have churches now that are having gay parades and LGBTQ and whatever else was there. I'm just pointing out the fact we're in the world is Christian morality. We've got to understand from where we have fallen and the depth into which we have fallen. De Tocqueville went on and said this: "In the United States, the sovereign authority is religious"—or Christian. "The sovereign authority is Christian. There is no country in the whole world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence than in America." I'm reading—this is what he's saying. "America is still the place where the Christian religion has kept the greatest real power over men's souls, and nothing better demonstrates how useful and natural it is to man since the country where it now has the widest sway is the most enlightened and the freest." Let that sink in.
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You lose Christianity, you lose freedom. Oh, I love this. In August of 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through Chester County, New York, and he had the opportunity to listen to a court case. He writes, "While I was in America, a witness who happened to be called to the court of the county of Chester declared that he did not believe in the existence of God or in the immortality of a soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all confidence of court in what he was about to say." He continued.
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"The newspaper related the fact without any further comment. The New York Spectator of August 23rd, 1831 wrote this: 'The Court of the Common Pleas of Chester County, New York, a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge remarked, that he had not before been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence of God, and that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court of justice, and that he knew of no case in a Christian country where a witness has been permitted to testify without such belief.'" That's shocking, isn't it? Wow. We're talking 1831. Judge said, "I can't believe there's a man who doesn't believe in God." You couldn't even be an atheist and be a witness. Nobody would believe you.
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In 1895, Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert compiled a lot of dictionary quotes, and here he quotes de Tocqueville and said, de Tocqueville said this: "Christianity is the companion of liberty in all of its conflicts, the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims." So de Tocqueville understood that Christianity was basically the foundation of this country. Now, there was a contemporary of de Tocqueville who traveled with him across America.
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He was a French historian. His name was Gustave de Beaumont. And de Beaumont gave his observations, just very few. But here's what he said. "In America, Christian religion is always at the service of freedom. It is a principle of the United States legislature." Hang on. "It is a principle of the United States legislature that to be a good citizen, it is necessary to be religious or Christian, and it's no less well-established rule that to fulfill one's duty toward God, it's necessary to be a good citizen. In general, anyone who adheres to one of the religious sects or denominations, whose number is immense in the United States, enjoys all his social and political rights in peace.
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Ah, listen to his next statement. Let me go back. I'm going to read that and then tie it together. "In general, anyone who adheres to one of the religious denominations, whose number is immense in the United States, enjoys all his social and political rights in peace. But the man who would claim to have neither a church nor religious beliefs would not only be excluded from all civil employment, and from all political offices, but would be an object of moral persecution of all kinds. No one would care to have any social relationships with him." Why? The man who is not a Christian, the man who claims to be an atheist would be excluded from all civil employment, all political offices. And he said no one would want anything to do with him. Then he said this: "No one in the United States believes that a man without religion could be an honest man." Isn't that amazing?
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How far have we fallen? You know, it's one thing to say, "Well, this country was founded on the Bible. This country was founded on Christianity." Until you realize the depth of that foundation. And then you look around and see where we are today. And all of a sudden, we should be very shocked.
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Now, let me tell you something else that Tocqueville did. This is astounding. De Tocqueville basically predicted how we as Americans would eventually lose our freedoms. This is based upon his observations. I'm not saying this is prophetic. Neither am I saying what he's written is biblical, not saying that at all. But what I am saying is what he said is basically accurate. Listen to what he said, telling us how we will eventually lose our freedom. He said, and I'm quoting, "It would happen a little at a time."
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"I had noted in my stay in the United States that a democratic state of society similar to the American model could lay itself open to the establishment of despotism with unusual ease." Listen: "It would debase men without tormenting them."
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Now, let me just stop right there. "It would debase men without tormenting them." Hmm. Let's see. If you've never read Rushdoony's book, "The American Indian," I would encourage you to do so. It's only a small book. Rushdoony was a missionary to the American Indians for 11 years. Most people do not know that. It's a wonderful book. And in that book, Rushdoony explains how the federal government destroyed the American Indian. The Indians originally were great hunters, great warriors.
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Now they're drunkards and dopeheads. It's all because of what the federal government did to the American Indian. In the same book, Rushdoony shows how the federal government has destroyed the American blacks. When I was a boy, we would have as many as 200 blacks a day working on our farms. They would work. Not today. In that book also he tells how the white race is being destroyed.
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Look at the welfare system. You get paid for having babies out of wedlock. You get paid for not working. Here's what he's saying now. He said, "It would debase men without tormenting them." What happened to the mighty hunting powers of the American Indian? How he could read tracks, how he could read broken leaves and broken limbs? Not anymore. "It would debase men without tormenting them. Men all alike and equal turned in upon themselves," now listen, "...in a restless search for their petty, vulgar pleasures with which they fill their souls."
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You remember the bread and circuses in Rome. This is what he's saying. He said, "Above these men that are being debased, and allowed to fulfill all of their lusts, above these men stands an immense and protective power." Listen: "It prefers its citizens to enjoy themselves provided that they have only enjoyment in mind. It restricts the activity of free will within a narrow range and gradually removes autonomy itself from each citizen. The ruling power, having taken each citizen one by one in its powerful grasp, spreads its arms over the whole society, covering the surface of social life with a network of petty, complicated, detailed, and uniform rules." Wear your mask. Social distance. You can't go out.
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"It does not break men's wills, but it does soften and bend and control them. It constantly opposes what actions they perform. It inhibits, represses, drains, snuffs out, dulls so much effort that finally it reduces each nation to nothing more than a flock of timid and hard-working animals with the government as shepherd, a single protective and all-powerful government. Individual intervention is suppressed. It is in the details that we run the risk of enslaving men."
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Then he says this: "For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than in the slightest." I want to stop there. There's not much more, but I want you to listen. He says, "For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than that in slightest." Let me explain this to you. Because every great thing, every big thing is made up of small things.
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I remember when I was in graduate school. We were in Berkhof's systematic theology. And we were discussing the sovereignty of God. And I was an old man when I was there—when I say I was an old man, I was young, but I was still older than most of those students that were there because I was a married man and had children. But I never will forget we were discussing the sovereignty of God.
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And I usually refer to him as a kid. He was taller than I am, but he was a younger man. He raised his hand and he said, "Dr. Neal," he said, "I believe that God is sovereign in all the big things, but not the little things." And before I could catch myself, I said out loud, "Oh, what utter blasphemy." And of course, everybody looked at me. Dr. Neal looked at me. And I looked up at Dr. Neal. I said, "Dr. Neal, I'm sorry for that outburst.
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But I said, that is such a blasphemous statement. I said, if you don't—if you do not correct it, I said, I am—because every big thing is made up of a series of small things. And if there's anything over which God is not sovereign, then God is not God. He's not in control." Dr. Neal said, "Mr. Weaver's right." And so this is what he's saying. "For my part, I'd be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than the slightest." In other words, when we begin to give in to the little things, all of a sudden, it's the big thing that's gone. Because every big thing is made up of a series of little things. Listen to this. Then he goes on to say, "Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day.
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Look up the word "license" in Black's Law Dictionary. Or Bouvier's Law Dictionary. You know what the word "license" means? Here's the definition: permission from a competent authority to do that which otherwise would be unlawful to do. That marriage licenses are a recent invention. People got married for centuries before marriage licenses ever came along. People drove before driver's licenses ever came along. To my horror, years ago, I'm talking years ago, probably 30 to 40 years ago, I had a pastor friend's son in Fairfax, Virginia, who was arrested for cutting down a tree on his own property without a permit.
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I could not believe it. So he said, "Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day. It constantly irks them until they give up the exercise of their will and enfeebles their spirit. It will be useless to call upon those very citizens who become so dependent upon central government to choose from time to time the representative of this government." He concluded with this: "Increasing despotism in the administrative sphere. They reckon citizens are incompetent. It is difficult to imagine how men who have completely given up the habit of self-government could successfully choose those who should do it for them.
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The vices of those who govern and the ineptitude of those governed would soon bring it to ruin and revert it to its abasement to a single master." All I'm trying to say is this. He's hit the nail right on the head when you look down through history and where we are today. The truth of God's word demonstrates how far we have fallen. The truth of God's word shows us how God can turn His back on a nation when that nation turns their back upon God.
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We fight against Him, He fights against us. The Bible tells you in Romans chapter 1 in verse 28, talking about those people who did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. In other words, all God has to do to destroy a nation is to let us do our own thing. All God has to do to destroy a man is just let him go. He'll destroy himself. And I hear all the time, people cannot think clearly. We can't think clearly biblically. We can't think clearly constitutionally. We can't think clearly ethically and morally. Why?
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The confusion and the lack of education in truth is purposeful, I do believe. Here's the second. Unless we repent as individuals, as families, as churches, and as a nation, we're going to be right back under a George. It may not be George III. It might be a George Soros. Or it might be a George Klaus Schwab. Or it could be anyone who's ruling us for our good, for our benefit.
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You see what I'm saying? We have lost the concept of freedom. We've lost the concept of liberty. And because we've lost those two things, it indicates that we've lost the truth of the word of God. I've been teaching on our Bible study on Thursday night, going through Romans 13 with some people who've never heard it. And I want to tell you, I've had some of the most surprising statements from those individuals. "Why have we never heard this? Why have we never been taught this?" The truth of the matter is this, folks.
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If you really perceive how far we have fallen—number one, it ought to really scare you. Number two, it ought to really make you cry out and pray to God. The foundation of this country was the Christian religion. And now Christianity has been usurped with secularism, humanism and every other ism under the sun. We need to turn our face to God and ask forgiveness and begin to obey His word. How have the mighty fallen?
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As individuals, as families, as churches, as societies, as nations. Europe is in worse condition than we are. I'm saying, if God is not merciful and we do not repent, we're in trouble up in our eyeballs. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We thank You, Lord, for the warning. We thank You for the education. I pray, Lord, that You would help us to see how desperately we need Thee. How far we have fallen, Lord, and into what depths we have fallen as well. We're at the danger point. Lord, turn us, and we shall be turned. Quicken us, and we shall fall upon Thy name.
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Give us Your grace and Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray, Amen. ♪ ♪ you
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:15:35Z

How The Mighty Have Fallen

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver examines the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel 1, using it as a springboard to discuss how individuals and nations fall when they turn their backs on God. He contrasts America's Christian founding, as evidenced by early state constitutions requiring Christian faith for office, with its current moral and spiritual decline. Drawing on historical sources like Alexis de Tocqueville, Weaver warns that loss of Christianity leads to loss of liberty, and calls for repentance.

Introduction and David's Lament

Weaver introduces the message from 2 Samuel 1, focusing on David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, highlighting David's refusal to retaliate against Saul despite opportunities.

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 1:27

"How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"

This statement comes over David's lamentation.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 24:4-6

"And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily. And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt."

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:8-11

"And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD."

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 26:8-11

"Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day."

Saul's Rejection by God

Saul was chosen and anointed by God but rejected due to disobedience, illustrating that God can reject individuals He once used.

God's Sovereignty Over Nations

Using Jeremiah 18, Weaver explains that just as God deals with individuals, He also builds up or tears down nations based on their obedience.

America's Moral Decline

Weaver describes the progressive worsening of American society, including embrace of socialism, destruction of family, and impotent churches.

Biblical Curses for Disobedience

Deuteronomy 28 and Jeremiah 32 show that disobedience brings curses, including strangers rising to rule, and God turning His back on the nation.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 18:17

"I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 63:10

"but they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit."

America's Christian Foundations

Weaver reads from early state constitutions (North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, etc.) requiring Christian faith for public office, demonstrating the nation's Christian roots.

Tocqueville's Observations on American Christianity

Quoting Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America,' Weaver shows that in the 1830s, Christianity was seen as inseparable from liberty and the foremost political institution.

2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 17:

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 3:17

"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."

Tocqueville's Prediction of Despotism

Weaver reads Tocqueville's prediction that Americans would lose freedom gradually through government overreach, debasement, and dependence, which he sees fulfilled today.

Call to Repentance

Weaver concludes that unless individuals, families, churches, and the nation repent, America faces destruction, and he prays for God's mercy.

Give us Your grace and Your mercy. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray, Amen. ♪ ♪ you

How The Mighty Have Fallen

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	hNeWAbcyg0o
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need
Genre	Sermon
Date	2024-01-02
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	83

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and David's Lament: Weaver introduces the message from 2 Samuel 1, focusing on David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, highlighting David's refusal to retaliate against Saul despite opportunities.
Saul's Rejection by God: Saul was chosen and anointed by God but rejected due to disobedience, illustrating that God can reject individuals He once used.
God's Sovereignty Over Nations: Using Jeremiah 18, Weaver explains that just as God deals with individuals, He also builds up or tears down nations based on their obedience.
America's Moral Decline: Weaver describes the progressive worsening of American society, including embrace of socialism, destruction of family, and impotent churches.
Biblical Curses for Disobedience: Deuteronomy 28 and Jeremiah 32 show that disobedience brings curses, including strangers rising to rule, and God turning His back on the nation.
America's Christian Foundations: Weaver reads from early state constitutions (North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, etc.) requiring Christian faith for public office, demonstrating the nation's Christian roots.
Tocqueville's Observations on American Christianity: Quoting Alexis de Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America,' Weaver shows that in the 1830s, Christianity was seen as inseparable from liberty and the foremost political institution.
Tocqueville's Prediction of Despotism: Weaver reads Tocqueville's prediction that Americans would lose freedom gradually through government overreach, debasement, and dependence, which he sees fulfilled today.
Call to Repentance: Weaver concludes that unless individuals, families, churches, and the nation repent, America faces destruction, and he prays for God's mercy.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

David's righteous response to Saul prefigures God's dealings with nations

David never retaliated against Saul despite opportunities, recognizing Saul as the Lord's anointed; this illustrates a biblical attitude toward authority even when it is wicked.

1 Samuel 24 and 26 accounts of David sparing Saul.

God rejects those who reject Him, whether individuals or nations

Saul was rejected by God for disobedience; the same principle applies to nations as shown in Jeremiah 18.

1 Samuel 15:25-28 and Jeremiah 18:1-10.

America's current moral and political decay is a direct result of forsaking God

Weaver lists societal ills—socialism, debauched economy, destroyed manliness, impotent churches—as evidence of turning from God.

Descriptions of America's decline from 11:17 to 13:29.

The Bible explicitly warns that disobedience leads to strangers ruling over a nation

Deuteronomy 28:43-44 predicts that the stranger within will rise high and lend to the native, becoming the head.

Reading of Deuteronomy 28:43-44.

Early American law required Christian faith for civil office, proving the nation's Christian foundation

Multiple state constitutions from 1776-1817 explicitly required belief in God, the Bible, and Christianity for officeholders.

Quotations from North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Tennessee, Mississippi, Delaware constitutions.

The U.S. Constitution's 'no religious test' clause originally meant no denominational test, not exclusion of Christianity

Weaver argues that 'religion' in 1787 meant denomination, so Article VI only prohibited favoring one Christian sect over another.

Explanation of Article VI and Tennessee Constitution's simultaneous requirement of Christian belief and prohibition of religious test.

Tocqueville observed that Christianity was the foremost political institution in America and essential to liberty

Tocqueville's writings show that in the 1830s, Christianity was universally seen as the foundation of American freedom and morality.

Multiple Tocqueville quotes from 'Democracy in America.'

Loss of freedom occurs incrementally as government assumes control over small details of life

Tocqueville predicted that despotism would come by debasing men and regulating minor things, leading to dependence and loss of self-government.

Tocqueville's prediction about 'immense and protective power' and 'subject in minor things.'

Scripture References

2 Samuel 1:27: David's lament: 'How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!'
2 Samuel 1:17-19: David's lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, teaching the children of Israel the use of the bow.
1 Samuel 24:4-6: David cuts off Saul's skirt but refuses to kill him because Saul is the Lord's anointed.
1 Samuel 26:8-11: David again spares Saul's life, refusing to stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed.
1 Samuel 15:25-28: Saul rejected by God for disobedience; the kingdom torn from him.
Jeremiah 18:1-10: The potter and the clay: God can build up or destroy nations based on their response.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14: Blessings for obedience.
Deuteronomy 28:15-68: Curses for disobedience, including strangers rising to rule.
Jeremiah 32:32-33: Israel turned their back on God despite His teaching.
Jeremiah 18:17: God will show them the back and not the face in the day of calamity.
Isaiah 63:10: They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit; therefore He turned to be their enemy.
2 Corinthians 3:17: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Romans 1:28: God gave them over to a reprobate mind because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.

Historical References

Constitution of North Carolina (1776): Required belief in God, Protestant religion, and divine authority of Old and New Testaments for office.
Constitution of South Carolina (1778): Required acknowledgment of one God and future state of rewards and punishments; Christians tolerated.
Constitution of Massachusetts (1780): Governor and state officers must declare themselves of the Christian religion.
Constitution of New Hampshire (1784): Similar requirement that officeholders be Christians.
Constitution of Vermont (1786): Legislators must profess belief in God, divine inspiration of Scriptures, and Christian religion.
Constitution of Tennessee (1796): No person denying God or future state of rewards and punishments shall hold office; also no religious test.
John Jay (first Supreme Court justice): Stated in 1816 that it is the duty of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for rulers.
Constitution of Mississippi (1817): Similar requirement denying office to those who deny God or future state of rewards and punishments.
Alexis de Tocqueville, 'Democracy in America' (1835, 1840): French social scientist observed that Christianity was the foremost political institution in America and intimately united with liberty.
Gustave de Beaumont, French historian and traveling companion of Tocqueville: Observed that in America, anyone without religion would be excluded from civil employment and social relationships.

Important Quotes

The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive of the one without the other.

Captures Tocqueville's observation that early Americans saw Christianity and freedom as inseparable, a key point in Weaver's argument about America's decline.

It would debase men without tormenting them.

Tocqueville's prediction of how despotism would come gradually by degrading men while allowing them petty pleasures, which Weaver applies to modern America.

Subjection in the minor things of life is obvious every day. It constantly irks them until they give up the exercise of their will and enfeebles their spirit.

Highlights Tocqueville's warning that loss of freedom in small matters leads to total dependence on government.

For my part, I would be tempted to believe that freedom in the big things of life is less important than in the slightest.

Emphasizes that big freedoms are composed of small freedoms; losing small liberties leads to losing all.

No one in the United States believes that a man without religion could be an honest man.

De Beaumont's observation showing the complete integration of Christian faith and public trust in early America.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does David's response to Saul in 1 Samuel 24 and 26 model a biblical attitude toward ungodly authority?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts David's refusal to harm Saul with modern attitudes toward government.

[Question]

In what ways does Jeremiah 18's potter and clay analogy apply to nations today?

[Context]

Weaver uses this passage to argue that God can build up or destroy nations based on their obedience.

[Question]

What evidence from early American state constitutions most surprised you about the Christian character of the nation's founding?

[Context]

Weaver reads multiple constitutions requiring Christian faith for office.

[Question]

How does Tocqueville's observation that Americans 'combine the notions of Christianity and liberty so intimately' challenge modern views of separation of church and state?

[Context]

Weaver quotes Tocqueville to show the historical link between Christianity and freedom.

[Question]

Do you see Tocqueville's prediction of gradual despotism through 'subject in minor things' being fulfilled today? Give examples.

[Context]

Weaver applies Tocqueville's warning to modern government overreach.

[Question]

What does it mean for God to 'turn His back' on a nation, and what are the signs that this may be happening?

[Context]

Weaver discusses Jeremiah 18:17 and Isaiah 63:10 in relation to America.

[Question]

How should the church respond to the moral and spiritual decline described in this message?

[Context]

Weaver calls for repentance by individuals, families, churches, and the nation.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:48:44Z