Email from OCPAC A Nation Defending its Christianity Published Monday, February 10, 2025 NEXT MEETING MEETING 2025 March 5, 2025 Featuring: COUNTERING GENDER IDEOLOGY Dr. Lauren Schwartz SEE DETAILS BELOW. Send this newsletter to a friend here. BOB LINN A President Defending the Nation's Christianity Last Thursday morning was the annual National Prayer Breakfast. The President stood in the U.S. Capitol and reminded members of the U.S. Congress that: From the earliest days of our republic, faith in God has always been the ultimate source of the strength that beats in the hearts of our nation. We have to bring religion back. We have to bring it back much stronger. It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time. We have to bring it back. Thomas Jefferson himself once attended Sunday services held in the old House Chamber on the very ground where I stand today, so there could be nothing more beautiful than for us to gather in this majestic place — it is majestic — and reaffirm that America is and will always be: One nation under God Watch President Trump speak Thursday morning here. Read the transcript here. In 1785, fifteen years before he became President, Thomas Jefferson finished his book, Notes on the State of Virginia. He sought to awaken his readers by asking: “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are a gift of God?” JEFFERSON’S CHRISTIANITY While Jefferson has been painted as a Deist, those who have studied him closely would place him in a number of different theological camps. Some have said that Jefferson was among the most devoutly religious of the U.S. Presidents. Jefferson’s prayerbook was well worn and he contributed liberally to the Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches. He studied his Bible daily and ended many of his private letters with, “God bless you.” On 1803, Jefferson wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush that he had accepted the genuine precepts of Jesus and wrote, “I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others.” JEFFERSON’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY Jefferson believed history is moved by God’s superintending hand and that the universe maintains its course and remains orderly because of God’s superintending oversight. In 1815, he wrote in a private letter: Our efforts are in His hand, and directed by it; and He will give them their effect in his own time. JEFFERSON’S INSISTENCE ON A RELIGIOUS FOUNDATION TO GOVERNMENT Jefferson saw the hand of God do more than orchestrate the cosmos. He believed that society, culture, commerce, and government were also under his authority to judge and to either bless or curse. Jefferson regularly made public references to God’s “overruling Providence which governs the destinies of men and nations.” More than that, he believed no nation could sustain moral integrity unless the nation looked to Divine law as the foundation of its government. In 1814, he wrote to a friend that no society could sustain a moral code without “the sanction of divine authority stamped upon it.” Author, and Ivy League Lecturer, Gaston Espinosa pointed out in his book Religion and the American Presidency: Jefferson took religion so seriously that while in important respects a passion for religious freedom defined his life, he also laid the foundation of a religion for the republic that would support the country’s national identity in its most formative years and that sustains it today. Jefferson did not separate religion from government. Far from it. For Jefferson, religion could be placed at the service of national unity. Jefferson demonstrated his identity with this religious culture by his invoking God in prayer, emphasizing that God and not the state was the foundation of people’s rights, and that the revolution was a divine cause. It is the theological foundation of Jefferson’s crowning work, the Declaration of Independence. For Jefferson, religion was the foundation of the revolution. Gaston Espinosa points out that for Jefferson: Religion went hand in hand with the Revolution. It touches people’s minds and hearts and bound the community together in a common purpose. In his Second Inaugural Address in 1805, Jefferson continued to display his passion for the Biblical text. He closed that speech saying: I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power. JEFFERSON and EDUCATION for the NATION Noted historian Edwin Scott Gaustad commented on Jefferson’s insistence on the importance religion to the government of the people. In his book Sworn on the Altar of God , he argues that for Jefferson, all education from the primary grades to higher education must be based on: Common moral pursuits grounded in an understanding and commitment to the Author of that morality and of all creation. Professor and Author Dr. Gary Scott Smith writes: Jefferson wanted public schools to teach those matters on which reason and nature agreed, such as that God was the creator, sustainer, and supreme ruler of the universe and the source of morality. We need to continue to seek ways in which each of us can impact the future of Oklahoma through impacting education and the next generation. Thank you all for being a part of the preservation of truth in our Oklahoma culture! Send this newsletter to a friend here LAST MEETING . . . NATHAN DAHM TRUMP INAUGURATION THE FREEDOM CAUCUS Watch the presentation here. Watch the entire meeting here. GLORIA BANISTER INTRODUCES VIPS OUR PRESIDENT SPEAKS COMING MARCH 5, 2025 ON THE CUTTING EDGE MODERN SCIENCE DEBUNKING GENDER IDEOLOGY DR. LAUREN SCHWARTZ Dr. Schwartz has been playing a key role nationally in the work being done to expose the false claims of the gender movement. 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. Box 721212 Norman, OK 73070 Your $100 per month donation will help support the development of the Foundation’s work to widen our audience and outreach capabilities with quality meetings and enhanced educational video content. Our beginning financial goals will allow us to secure the initial permanent staff positions necessary to the function of a foundation with ambitions to change the world. OCPAC | P.O. Box 2021 | Edmond, OK 73083 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice