Benjamin Franklin’s Invisible Friend

Lance: Happy birthday America. Welcome to the Lance Wallnau Show with Mercedes Sparks today and Carl Wallnau over there on our on the desk. We’re flying with our team into a patriotic segment right now. Now, I’m concerned that most Americans do not know what in the world we have as a country and you’re seeing the constant attack of the, I’m sorry to say the modern secular state against the flag against God, against patriotism. It’s really a dangerous kind of invasive species and gotten into the garden of God. So, America is kind of like an experiment. It’s a unique experiment. In fact, it’s so unique that Benjamin Franklin actually called for prayer in order to make progress in their conversation. They spent 5 weeks in the heat of Philadelphia and they didn’t have air conditioning back then and these guys where you see, you’ll see like in the great movie John Adams where they have these powdered wigs on when they’re making public. Then they take them off and they’re fanning themselves, because it was just beastly hot and they had been arguing over what kind of a country they were going to form. 

So, in 1787 Benjamin Franklin got up after 5 weeks of fruitless debate back and forth. It’s kind of like you can see the church doesn’t really work together in America. Well, that’s kind of like what it was it’s kind of like getting all these different denominations to get on the same page and they all had their own little interest from their state that they wanted to protect. So, Franklin got up and said, “The small progress we have made after four or five weeks. Close attendance and continual reasoning with each other are different sentiments on almost every question. Several of the last producing as many noes as ays or yes. It makes me think of with its melancholy proof of the imperfection of us as human beings and our understanding and how to work together. We indeed seen to feel our complete what of political wisdom since we’ve been running about in search of it. We’ve gone back to ancient history for models of government and examine the different forms of those republics which have been formed with the seeds of their own destruction or dissolution and they no longer exist. And we viewed modern states all around Europe and find none of their constitution suitable to our circumstances”.

Now think about this Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Franklin, the John J this is one of the most brilliant assembly of Americans in history literate in Latin and Greek and Hebrew history in the culture of history debating what kind of form of government would work best. They go to the Greeks, they go to the Romans, they went to the modern nation states and the kings that they were at war with in Europe. They said, they couldn’t agree. So finally, Franklin gets up and says, this ain’t work and he makes this comment. “In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find a political truth, scarce able to distinguish it when it’s presented. How has this happened? Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understanding”. He’s about to call for prayer. Because everybody talks about, well, the founders they were in second, they weren’t all Christians but were overwhelmingly in agreement with the general idea that the providential power of God in some form formed the United States because they took on Britain. Britain had defeated Napoleon and now a bunch of farmers and merchants decided they were going to defeat Britain. They were aware that they needed God in order to do so regardless of their different views of what that meant. They were united in their sense back then of an overruling spiritual guy and governor of the nations that they would go to in order to form the nation.

Now, listen to what he says. “Sir, have we not once thought of humbly applying to the father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, we were sensible of danger and at that time, we had daily prayer in this very room for divine protection”. So, he’s going back and saying, we were so desperate. We prayed all of us with our different backgrounds to God’s intervention. “Our prayers, Sir, were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor”. What’s he talking about? There’s a book by Peter Marshall, historian called “The Light and the Glory”, where it talks about the times that we almost were we lost the entire revolutionary work.

At one point, washing made the blunder as a young general of putting the entire continental army on like Staten Island. And by putting them on an island, he put them in a position where they could be surrounded and destroyed and he realized only too late that the British had complete command of the sea lanes around them and they couldn’t possibly escape. So, he ordered them to make an exit and how did God answer their prayers? It was as though a supernatural fog rolled in overnight and this is what they mean by the providence of God. The fog came so thick that the British couldn’t see the island and so they got rowboats in every kind of vehicle and they quietly left the island thousands of troops all night long in the fog to when the day came and the sun dissipated the fog. The British were shocked to see there was nobody left but a handful of people still trying to get off the island. This is the kind of providential intervention he’s talking about.

“To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in P on the means of establishing our future, national felicity”. Where to God’s intervention, we can even have this conversation now because we won. Now, can we form a nation? “Have we now forgotten that powerful friend? Do you hear the language of Franklin here? “Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance?” Is that where we’ve gotten to? “We could do this on our own? I’ve lived so a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth”. This is Franklin. To the founders, no one is arguing if this conversation happened. It’s recorded as secular history. He said this, “God governs in the affairs of men and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice”, it’s quoting Jesus. “Is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured sir in the sacred writings”. What’s he referring to in sacred writings there?

Mercedes: Bible.

Lance: The Bible. Clearly. He’s quoting the Jesus teaching. “That except the Lord build the house they that labor are laboring in vain”. Now he’s quoting the Old Testament with David. “I firmly believe this. And I also believe that without his concurring a will we shall succeed in this political building project no better than the builders of Babylon”. He’s going back now to Genesis. “We be divided by our little partial parochial local interest our little interest that we have with our separate states”. And he said, “Our projects are going to be completely confounded as the project in Babylon was. And we ourselves should become a reproach and a by word for future generations having won a war that couldn’t form a nation”, is what he’s saying. And what’s worse than listen to how these guys took an eye of the significance of what America was as an experiment. Worse than even us going down in history as incompetent is, catch this. “Mankind may hereafter from this in unfortunate instance despair of ever establishing governments by human wisdom and they’ll just leave it to chance to war and to somebody’s conquest”. Which is the history of governments. Chance, war, diseases, or conquest.

“I therefore beg leave to move”, and he stood up and made his proposition. Like a good statesman. He presented his case and he said here what I’m proposing we do to solve this gridlock. “Henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessing on our deliberations be held right here in this assembly every morning before we proceed to the business. And that one or more of the clergy, the preachers in this city of Philadelphia be requested”. Let them officiate. We won’t even make each other do it. We’re going to have the come in and they’ll officiate prayers. They’ll be Episcopal, they’ll be Methodist, they’ll be Baptist, whatever the diversity of clergy is in the town, and let’s pray. I think and so they agreed on that and what’s amazing is out of that, they were able to finally form the documents that formed the nation.

Mercedes: Wow.

Lance: They had the declaration of independence first. So, you see behind my head here, that’s July 4th 1776. They had to write a document knowing that they were actually a January 6thcommittee creating an insurrection against King George. And in order for them to do that they’d have fixed their names they put their names down they were all going to hang on the galas their property would be taken their families would become political prisoners and they would be exiles if their experiment failed or they’d be hung they understood what they were doing and they were the rich aristocracy they had something to lose they could’ve ridden along and just tolerated this but they didn’t. So, they formed after the Declaration of Independence, they formed the constitution and we should understand these things because they’re never quoted. They’re hardly ever understood when they’re referred to. They’re referred to almost irrelevantly. We don’t realize that there was a hand of God forming this unusual experiment in religious diversity and secular enterprise.

So, 1776 was the Declaration of Independence and in 1788 the constitution was formed. They didn’t have to form a government until they were able to establish victory. So, the Declaration of Independence was the why are we doing this. And then the constitution was how the heck are we going to run this thing now that we’ve won. Then the Bill of Rights comes along. Bill of Rights was in 1791, because the states were really nervous about essential government, they pretty much every state was its government. And they would have stayed their own government if they didn’t have to fight Britain, we would have always been the 13 colonies separate little. We’d be like many Europe with you know speaking the same language but having our own little governments all compacted together.

So, the idea of a central government, a federal government, a central banking system and the idea that well next time we have a battle we’ll all have this government will fight the battles for us. We’ll all give our militia just like we had to do last time. They were forming a nation and they were reluctant. Now that the threat of King George is gone, they were kind of thinking I don’t know how much I want to get into this central government and give up my control to who to how are we going to do that. That was what the constitution was all about.

Carl: Well, also the federalist papers that was a big part of it.

Lance: Yeah, and so the federalist papers and so what was the role of federalist papers that was from 1787.

Carl: To 89.

Lance: Yeah, 88/89 and it was 85 essays published in the media, on the media mountain. And it was primarily who was it was a Madison.

Carl: Hamilton and John J.

Lance: And John J and then what were they doing they were trying to explain and defend the idea of a central government and how it would work. Imagine this, they had to write 85 essays to debate to illiterate young nation back then and probably like 2 million people. Hey man, here’s your concerns but here’s how it could work.

Carl: Yeah, and it was done in a call and response type method where one person would write anthen somebody else would write their essay. A part of it was a reply. But a lot of it was also their own ideas that they were trying to push into the constitution. So, it was a cool form of public debate before they had television.

Lance: Yeah, imagine that it’s kind of like our if we were having our social media.

Carl: Yeah.

Lance: And we had one social media platform and the pros and cons were being written to each other as a form of public debate to persuade the nation. The Declaration of Independence of the Constitution they fit together. You have to see how this works. It’s like tongue and groove because the declaration of independence which came first explains why we’re creating a nation. And it’s interesting because it has like basically it’s a whole list of grievances with King George because they had to write. Remember this, they’ve got France that can screw this experiment up. Remember they got Napoleon is rising at this time. You have Insta in Europe and they’re concerned other countries could screw this up. So, they’re making their debate design so that other nations in the world can understand why their cause is just and you don’t want to side with England against us. We have a legitimate grievance. So, it’s a whole bunch of King George did this and the Brits did that and they did this and it’s we tried to address it and they kept on beating up on us and locking us up and we’re fed up. That’s why that’s basically what the Declaration of Independence was an explanation.

Carl: Yeah, but it also went beyond the intellectual only because there was also the guerilla warfare that was going on. There was a lot of the battles that were taking place between some of the colonists and some of the opposing forces. So, if we didn’t have those little wins along the way, I don’t think America would be where it is today. Having those little cells that were actually attacking the crown.

Lance: Absolutely. So. the Declaration of Independence says why do we exist? The constitution’s going to be how are we go to exist.

Carl: Right.

Lance: And I think we ought to just examine some of the language because in this brief podcast my goal is to give to you all the information that it’s like the essential vitamins. You have to have in your diet to understand the complexity is not really that complex in terms of like how America was formed and why it was formed. So, the declaration of independence is really not a secular document as people think. It’s a foundation of our nation and it was designed so that you don’t dig up the foundation. The constitution and the Bill of Rights, there can be amendments made but there’s no amendments made to the declaration. It’s under the government assumptions that built America. So, it goes on to say the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.

Interesting, the United States really comes out of 13 different states deciding to move as one. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bans which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth is separate an equal station to which and here’s where they start adding their sacred. Remember they’re going to appeal to an idea that there is a law over this that is bigger than human ambition but that they’re appealing to a foundation that is spiritual in nature. Now they’re going to start using some God language. They’re saying that when it’s necessary to do so we should give an explanation. And because we want as a nation to form separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them. So now they’re starting at the laws of nature and nature’s God in there.

They’ve got people of a very strong theistic backgrounds that believe that the struggle is a divine struggle against right of kings. And this actually goes back to England when the Puritans and first families that came over here trying to get away from religious persecution were battling with the right of kings to become to say they are the divine government of God. So, Lex Rex was written. Carl look up Lex Rex. And Lex Rex was written as part of the debate which the religious people were having with like for instance the King of England who decided King Henry decided he would be the head of the Church of England and separate from the Catholic Pope. And the Americans were like concerned about this because they realized that there were persecuted forefathers that came over to the United States that many of the people that began settling in Jamestown were trying to get away from persecution that comes when a government take on the form of one religion and then infuses the two government and church together and imposes absolute submission on the basis of the divine right of kings. God giving the king authority over the land which is an interesting debate.

So, they’re going to talk about the laws of nature’s God and begin to outline their defense. “The unanimous declaration of the 13 United States of America concludes in the first segment with nature’s God”. I’m saying that I’m underlining that here because I think it’s important that we look at the foundation is going to be the argument of we have a right because of the abuses of Britain over us and the king and we are going to govern ourselves. We believe God has given certain rights to human beings and then they start illuminating on these rights that are given by God to human beings. This make sense so far?

So, okay. So, the God of the Declaration of Independence. We’re moving out of the second paragraph of the birth certificate of the United States. Remember the goal that I’m thinking about here is to understand that that the God that this document speaks of is a real God that was in a religious context in the minds of these founders that they had different views of their own particular faith. We hold these truths Jefferson penned to be self-evident that all men are created equal. Now right away they’re messing with religion. They’re not saying that all men are an evolutionary byproduct, they were subscribing to a certain worldview that the God of nature nature’s God oversaw a process. Whereby a creator was involved and he created nations and he created people that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator.

So, notice the argument they’re making to that you’re arguing with our right to do something. We’re going to appeal to a higher court. It’s the higher court, the appeal to heaven, is that God created man and he didn’t create him to be a slave of anyone else. He created him to be free and that creator is the supreme judge of the world and that creator as the supreme judge of the world is the one to whom we are making our appeal as a nation. “So that God is identified as the creator who created. Thus, the God being referenced in the Declaration of Independence is the God who created all of nature including us human beings. That is the God being invoked in this document is not the God of America but the God of all nations”. That’s why this experiment is such a historically powerful statement. It’s not just the God of America. They’re saying mankind has a right to freedom because God didn’t create men or nations to be slaves or in servitude to each other.

So, the reason for independence they didn’t think were self-evident to other nations. That’s why they wrote them out they wanted them to understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. So, we therefore it says in the next section of the Declaration of Independence as they’re listing all their grievances with King George. They come back to their main argument. “We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in general congress assembled”. Here’s your religious language again. “Appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions”. Catch that. They’re saying their appeal is to the creator, the God of nature, the nature’s God, the one who created man, and their appeal is to that supreme judge of the world to justify their intentions. “And in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, we solemnly publish and declare that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states”.

You have to catch this they refer to God as the justification ultimately for their rebellion from England. As this goes into where the pulpit was during the period of the of the revolution influenced by the great awakenings, influenced by George Whitfield who had a profound effect on the colonies and on Benjamin Franklin also. There in their mind there is this idea of God and of the sacred struggle and that’s why they prayed during the war that’s why they prayed to form the constitution although their secularist tendencies are clear because after 5 weeks of no prayer, Franklin has said, come on, come on, come on. We’re getting nowhere. Let’s go back and do this the way we got here. Let’s implore that invisible friend who has helped us to help us again.

I think it’s a very powerful kind of a statement. So, we now come to the final sentence of the declaration and the one right before the 56 signatures are going to be potentially life sentence or a death sentence. “And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives our fortunes and our sacred honor with a firm reliance on the protection of providence”. I commit this to you today as the first part of our July 4th celebration.

Closing: Did you enjoy this latest episode? Please remember to share it with your friends. Because the more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are to navigate the world.

Lance: Inflation is hammering the stock market. We’re looking at bubbles that are beginning to burst all over the place. Across the board, everything is declining. There’s a thing called the S&P 500. That’s like an index of where all the stocks are and right now, the S&P is having its worst year since World War II. That’s right. We’re going back to World War II type stock level trauma. Where you want go is you want to make sure that your dollar in this kind of unstable environment is fixed in something that is going to increase in value. That’s why the Bible is very wise in saying, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine”. That seems to be where that paper money goes when it wants to increase in value during an unstable period. Birch gold is the company that I trust to help convert an IRA or a 401K into an IRA that’s actually in gold or silver or gold and Silver. This is a tax-sheltered account.

What I’m recommending you do is go to Lancewallnau.com/birch”. Find out how this works. Get a free zero obligation info kit. Talk to one of the consultants and examine how you could build for yourself a tax-exempt position in gold and silver so that you can ride out the instability of this coming period and not be shocked as the stocks go down. We’re watching a tremendous adjustment happen in America but the Bible says, “To him that is forewarned to him that sees trouble and prepares himself, God will create a way”. I want you to make that way right now for yourself. “Lancewallnau.com/birch” and secure your savings.