Everett Piper Christian Blog and Commentary

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America's Prophet

 

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If someone asked you who the one person was that most influenced the values and ideals of the American way of life – of freedom and justice – of liberty and law – what would you say?

 

Well, Bruce Feiler tells us in his book America’s Prophet that the answer is indisputably - Moses. 

 

Here’s just some of a whole book full of evidence…

 

The Pilgrims claimed the inspiration of Moses as they fled the “Pharaoh” of King James in pursuit of their “promised land” in the New World. 

 

George Washington spoke of the “Deity” who “delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors” as being the same God who established the U.S.  and watered it with “dews of Heaven” as it grew in independence and freedom. 

 

The Liberty Bell is famous not for its excellent craftsmanship or its resonant sound but for the words of Moses inscribed on it: “Proclaim Liberty throughout the all the land and to inhabitants thereof.”

 

Columbus compared himself to Moses when he set out to cross the sea in 1492.

 

George Whitfield quoted Moses as he led the nation to salvation in the Great Awakening.

 

Thomas Paine compared King George to Pharaoh in the book Common Sense.

 

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all wanted Moses on the seal of the U.S.

 

Harriet Tubman adopted Moses’ name on the Underground Railroad.

 

Abraham Lincoln was eulogized as Moses’ incarnation.

 

FDR and LBJ both drew upon the inspiration of Moses during wartime.

 

And MLK likened himself to Moses the very night before he was killed.

 

So the next time someone suggests that America was not founded as a religious nation tell them the story of Moses, of the laws that he authored and the liberty that he inspired.  Tell them of America’s Prophet.