---

The history of religious liberty in America (Part Two, Section IV of God Betrayed/Separation of Church and State: The Biblical Principles and the American Application, “History of Religious Freedom in America”

---

To download a document, right click the link, then left click “Download Linked File” or “Download Linked File As.”

---

The history presented on this webpage is factual, backed up by undeniable historical evidence. Still, few people know it. Christian revisionists rewrite history and secularists avoid it, except to point out the lies of Chriistian revisionists. Scholars know it and write about it. With the combination of church and state in the early fourth century, the persecution of those the establishment deemed to be “heretics” who would not bow down to the official religio-government. 0ver 50 million such “heretics were imprisoned, tortured and viciously murdered over the next 1,000+ years. The persecutions instigated by Catholicism continued in subsequent nations with Protestant establishments. The persecutions continued in the American colonies, to a lesser but still severe extent. However, due to the circumstances a theological warfare between colonial establishments and the dissidents, chiefly the Baptists resulted in a gradual erosion of persecution and finally the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. On the state level, Massachusetts became the last state to constitutionally forbid forced establishment.

---

Course on the History and Meaning of the First Amendment

---

The History of Religious Liberty (Section IV of God Betrayed):

1. Introduction to “The History of Religious Freedom in America” (Section IV, Chapter 1 of God Betrayed)
2. Secular and Christian revisionism (Section IV, Chapter 2 of God Betrayed)
3. The Consequences of Secular and Christian Revisionism (Section IV, Chapter 3 of God Betrayed)
4. The Light Begins To Shine (Section IV, Chapter 4 of God Betrayed)
5. The Pilgrims and the Puritans in Massachusetts (Section IV, Chapter 5 of God Betrayed). The Puritans established a government in the colony of Massachusetts in which the church ran the state. All ten of the commandments were enforced. Dissenters were “banished.” After 4 Quakers were killed, England ordered the killing to stop, but the leaders of the colony devised all kinds of ways to persecute those that they labeled “heretics.” Read all about this in this article.The Congregationalists (Puritans) brutally beat Obadiah Holmes for his beliefs:

   Holmes said of his beating: “As the man began to lay the strokes upon my back, I said to the people, though my flesh should fail, yet God will not fail: so it pleased the Lord to come in, and fill my heart and tongue as a vessel full, and with audible voice I break forth, praying the Lord not to lay this sin to their charge, and telling the people I found He did not fail me, and therefore now I should trust Him forever who failed me not: for in truth, as the strokes fell upon me, I had such a spiritual manifestation of God’s presence as I never had before, and the outward pain was so removed from me that I could well bear it, yea, in a manner felt it not, although it was grievous.” When he was released from the post, he said to the magistrates, “Ye have beaten me as with roses.” He was another Baptist hero whose sufferings contributed to the adoption of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

6. The Baptists of Rhode Island (Section IV, Chapter 6 of God Betrayed)
   Click the following link to read the Portsmouth Compact (1638).
   Click the following to read the Rhode Island Charter of 1663.
   These documents and the history surrounding them are chronicled in Section IV, Chapter 6 of Jerald Finney’s book, God Betrayed which is reproduced in the above article, The Baptists of Rhode Island. Rhode Island showed us the way to draft its legal documents in such a way as to explicitly establish a government under Jesus Christ while honoring the biblical principle of separation of church and state (also called religious liberty, soul liberty, and freedom of conscience).
7. The Separates and the Baptists in New England (Section IV, Chapter 7 of God Betrayed)
8. From New England to the South (Section IV, Chapter 8 of God Betrayed).Photo of Shubal Stearns preaching at Sandy Creek, North Carolina follows. His preaching led to a great revival which resulted in the planting of untold numbers of Baptist churches throughout the South.
9. To Virginia (Section IV, Chapter 9 of God Betrayed).
   Click the following link to read what James Madison thought of union of church and state: Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.
   Click the following link to read what Thomas Jefferson thought of union of church and state: The Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom.
   Click here to read President James Madison’s letter explaining why he vetoed a bill to incorporate a church in the District of Columbia.
   Have you ever read these very important documents in Christian revisionist literature? Find out much more about these and other historical facts in Virginia by reading Section IV, Chapter 9 of God Betrayed which is reproduced in the above article, To Virginia.
10. To the New Nation (Section IV, Chapter 10 of God Betrayed). Photo of Leland Madison Memorial Park:
    
11. Conclusion to “The History of Religious Freedom in America” (Section IV, Chapter 11 of God Betrayed)

For Jerald Finney’s audio teachings on the above, click the following link:
“The History of the First Amendment”

010610 An Abridged History of the First Amendment. Since this topic is so vast, this article is longer than most articles on this blog—21 single spaced pages, excluding endnotes (not so long considering the wealth of information distilled on this vital subject). Sadly, very few Christians know the facts presented in this history. Tragically, few Christians want to know it. To fully understand the issue of separation of church and state, one must have knowledge of the history of the First Amendment.

Carl H. Esbeck, Dissent and Disestablishment: The Church-State Settlement in the Early American Republic, 2004 BYU L. Rev. 1385 (2004)

Baptists Are Not Protestants but Pious, Polemic Patriots by Don Boys (October 20, 2017)

Martyr’s Song by Watchmen

The Trail of Blood of the Martyrs of Jesus
A Case of Premeditated Murder
Christian Revisionists on Trial
The History of the First Amendment

Book: Martyr’s Mirror in online PDF (Can be downloaded)

Click here to go to Order information, free PDF, and free online version page for books by Jerald Finney.

Study: 40% Of Millenials Oppose ‘Offensive’ Free Speech (112315)(Article also on the Trumpet-on-line)(If these closed-minded brainwashed 40% knew history and had any understanding, knowledge, and wisdom, they would all favor free speech. Do you know the history of the First Amendment? If not, you need to know it. If not, do not condemn the 40% because without knowledge you are contributing to the destruction of our freedoms. You will find it by studying all the chapters linked to on this page.)

–