Email from OCPAC The First Inauguration's Guiding Light Published Monday, January 20, 2025 NEXT MEETING MEETING 2025 February 5 Featuring: Senator Nathan Dahm & Others Oklahoma's Report from Inauguration SEE DETAILS BELOW. Send this newsletter to a friend here. BOB LINN Light from America's First Inauguration On this inauguration day I continue the contrast I made last week between the overt Christian sentiment articulated in public by the political class and our schools. The Christian soul of America’s beginnings 400 years ago remains intact as evidenced by the overtly Christian and Bible-based state funeral of U.S. President James Earl Carter Jr. It has not remained intact in American education as most of the Carter state funeral would be banned in the government’s school system. See last week’s article here. Washington National Cathedral on January 9, 2025. It has been the ongoing work and the historic legacy of the cultural left to not only deny the nation’s Christian identity but also to shape upcoming generations in an ideology void of the transcendent realities foundational to Western Civilization. Ryan Walters and Oklahoma’s State Department of Education is pressing, for the sake of the restoration of our culture and the establishment of the academic fundamentals, to make the metaphysical lens of Western Civilization central again in our upcoming generation of citizens. Not to force Christian confessions, but to instill morality’s sole foundation and to establish a level of literacy which will enable the apprehension of world history and the literature and the science which accompanies that history. There is no better teacher on the critical nature of this issue that the man we call the father of the nation, George Washington. In his first inaugural address, he spoke of the necessity of the religious elements of a society and he saw them as the only foundation for the nation’s future. In his book, Faith & the Presidency, Dr Gary Smith comments on the first inaugural address of George Washington. He writes: Rejecting relativism, Washington asserted that people were responsible to transcendent standards. Washington contended that the United States would be successful only if its people adhered to biblical principles. Any nation that disregarded “the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained,” Washington proclaimed in his first inaugural address, could not expect God’s favor. He maintained that the same transcendent norms should direct both individual conduct and governmental practices. “The foundations of our national policy,” he promised in 1789, “will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality.” Washington stated that “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained. Without question, for Washington, the foundation of the nation’s future success would be secured in its adherence to divine revelation. Many have noted the spiritual passion Washington displayed when taking the oath of office that day. As he finished repeating the oath, he went off script and added, “So Help me, God,” and the phrase became an inauguration staple. Washington then bent down and with reverence, kissed the Bible being held by Samuel Otis, Secretary of State. In their book, God in the White House, Edmund Fuller and David E. Green remember the comments of one journalist who witnessed the swearing in who wrote of “the devout fervency with which he repeated the oath, and the reverent manner in which he bowed down and kissed the sacred volume.” __________ TWO CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FOR THE OKLAHOMA PULPIT AND PEW FIRST: The Citizens Build the Nation Washington's Circular to the States 1783 Washington resigned his military commission in December of 1783. As he prepared the nation for this transition, he circulated a printed message to the states. (Circular to the States 1783.) He spoke of the burden placed upon the American citizen to perform a duty to the world’s theater by divine providence and told the American citizen that should the blessings of God be removed, the fault would be entirely their own. NOTE: I have edited the following quote for brevity and clarity. Find the complete proclamation here. The Citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole Lords and Proprietors of a vast tract of Continent are now acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom. They are the Actors, on a most conspicuous Theatre, peculiarly designated by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity more than any other Nation has ever been favored with. This is their political probation, the moment when the eyes of the whole World are turned upon them. The moment to establish or ruin their National Character forever. It is yet to be decided whether the Revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse for Ages to come. With our fate will the destiny of unborn Millions be involved. SECOND: The Nation needs God WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS To the people of the United States Washington did not publicly deliver his Farewell Address but on September 19, 1796 published it in the Philadelphia Daily American Advertiser while still in office. It was then distributed in papers around the country. His term, which began April 30, 1789, would end on March 4, 1797. This address contained, as did most of his others, a message to the nation regarding the shaping of our coming generations of citizens. This means our way of educating our children. We cannot build a nation while we rip apart the metaphysical presuppositions of Christianity and the West from our coming generations. Washington wrote: Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. CLOSING The future of the nation rests on the shoulders of our children. Only the restoration of education to the academic and moral standards of our founding years will make America great again. National identity is established by our pulpits, our congregations, our parents, and our political leaders. It is infused into our children. THIS IS THE TASK OF THE AMERICAN PULPIT AND THE AMERICAN PEW. One last word from the inaugural speech of the Father of the Nation, George Washington: The sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people. Thank you all for being a part of the preservation of truth in our Oklahoma culture! Send this newsletter to a friend here LAST WEEK . . . DR. JONATHAN ASHBACH Watch the presentation here. Watch the entire meeting here. The notes are not yet on the web. Stay tuned. SENATOR LISA STANDRIDGE Watch the presentation here. Watch the entire meeting here. JAN BARRICK Watch Brad perform here. Watch the entire meeting here. JIM PUTNAM Watch the presentation here. Watch the entire meeting here. COMING FEB 5 2025 Nathan Dahm Nathan is the Executive Director for the Oklahoma Freedom Caucus and will be in Washington, D.C. today (January 20, 2025) with a number of other Oklahomans to witness the presidential inauguration. This group will bring a report on the events and Nathan will discuss the Freedom Caucus. OUR FOUNDATION BANKS AT QUAIL CREEK BANK OCPAC FOUNDATION is a 501 (c) (3). Gifts are tax-deductible. I encourage each of you to support our mission. To get started, we are suggesting: The Century Club To join, mail a cancelled check to: OCPAC FOUNDATION P.O. 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