Massachusetts
Established in 1630
March 1, 2022
Massachusetts
Massachusetts’ Godly Roots
In His perfect timing, the Living God planted His Godly roots in every one of the thirteen colonies in what is now the United States of America. In His synagogue at Nazareth Jesus/ Yeshua quoting Isaiah 61:1 said :" The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed. Luke 4: 18.
By His shed Blood He fulfilled the Word of God. In the fullness of time He found men and women, full of His Holy Spirit, in these thirteen colonies, to place Liberty into practice. The tyranny of kings and despots was to be superseded by Godly servants deeply committed to His Way, His Truth and His Life, as they humbly worshiped God and served the public good.
" Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Corinthians 3:17.
The Liberty Bell itself was inscribed with words from Leviticus 25:10 :" proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants."
The colony of Massachusetts has a rich history of men and women planting God's Word and His Liberty, and bringing those Truths into practice.
Humility and repentance were central to their lives.
In 1620 Pilgrims, separated from the Church of England , left the oppression of England's king and official church to seek a place to worship freely and plant the gospel in the New World. Prior to landing they all agreed to the Mayflower Compact which reads in part: " Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."
Their Godly leader for more than 30 years was William Bradford. He gives us a record of the colony in his classic work, Of Plymouth Plantation. God's Providence to the colony included His providing as an interpreter, once they had landed, Massasoit, a member of the local Wampanoag people. Years before, Massasoit had been captured as a slave, had been sent to England, and thus spoke English! The Wampanoags assisted the Pilgrims to provide food; the first Thanksgiving to God reflects a Godly fellowship which persisted for decades.
Several years after landing in 1620, in the summer of 1623, the corn crop, so vital to the colony, was threatened. Derek Prince later wrote: .."It was a great drought from May to July, with great heat, the corn began to wither away...Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer... And He was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both to their own and the Indians' admiration.. For all the morning, and great part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen, yet toward evening, it began to overcast, and shortly thereafter to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God."
Puritans who believed that the Church of England was insufficiently reformed, soon followed the Pilgrims, setting up the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.
Perhaps their best known pastor was John Winthrop. Before he and his fellow settlers in 1630 reached Massachusetts he gave a sermon, " Model of Christian Charity, " containing his plea that all would see the colony as a shining example to the world, a "city on a hill" in taking up the duties of community and the gospel. Jesus in His sermon on the mount said: " You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." Matthew 5:14. Key excerpts from Reverend Winthrop's sermon are attached.
Minister John Harvard (1607-1638) on his deathbed bequeathed his scholar's library and half his estate to the "schoale or college" founded two years earlier by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Grateful leaders of the colony ordered that the college be built in Harvard's name at Cambridge.
According to one author, ( J. Williams Young, The Congregationalists), Puritans believed churches should be composed of "visible saints" or the "elect." To ensure that only regenerated persons were admitted as full members, their churches required prospective members to provide a conversion narrative describing their personal conversion experience!
The great men and women of Massachusetts have to include the unanimously- elected President of the Continental Congress, and first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, John Hancock, whose bold signature on the Declaration of Independence was a sign of his Godly courage. At the same time that he was bold, he humbly sought the Lord. As Governor of Massachusetts he declared a "Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer." Upon the signing of the Declaration, Hancock said: " Let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the Universe...Let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raises up and puts down the empires and kingdoms of the earth as He pleases. "
Additionally, among the many more who could be named, one has to include John Adams. In his diary, age 21, graduating from Harvard: he wrote “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obligated in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God...What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
Years later, John Adams attended a Continental Congress in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War in 1777. The gathering took place when the British seemed invincible and were about to invade Philadelphia. Another delegate, Dr. Benjamin Rush, asked Adams how Great Britain could ever be defeated given their size and experience. John Adams said: "We shall win this battle, sir, if we fear God and repent of our sins."
On June 21, 1776, prior to the vote for independence Mr. Adams wrote: " Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and Morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure, than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. "
Upon the key vote for independence on July 2 , 1776 ( the vote was on the 2nd, the signing was on the 4th) John Adams said: " The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epoche in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this time forward forever more."
And John Adams is known for this insight: " It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand."
John Adams, as our second President of the United States, called twice for "Days of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer." He sought God's Solution, 2 Chronicles 7:14 for the threats against the nation. A copy of one of his Presidential Declarations is attached.
Perhaps no other President has been so devout a Christian. He and his beloved wife, Abigail, passed this blessing along to our sixth President, his son, John Quincy Adams.
websites:
books:
The Puritan Experiment, New England Society from Bradford to Edwards, University Press of New England 1995
John Winthrop: America's Forgotten Founding Father, Francis J. Bremer, Oxford Press 2003
John Hancock: Merchant King and American Patriot, Harlow Unger, 2000
John Adams: Revolutionary Writings 1755-1775 , Library of America , 2011
Established in 1630
History
Massachusetts Bay Colony was settled in 1630 by a group of Puritans from England under the leadership of Governor John Winthrop. A grant issued by King Charles I empowered the group to create a colony in Massachusetts. While the company was intended to transfer the wealth of the New World to stockholders in England, the settlers themselves transferred the charter to Massachusetts. By so doing, they turned a commercial venture into a political one.
John Winthrop and the "Winthrop Fleet"
The Mayflower carried a mixture of English and Netherlands Separatists, the Pilgrims, to America in 1620. Forty-one colonists on board the ship signed the Mayflower Compact, on November 11, 1620. This was the first written governmental framework in the New World.
In 1629, a fleet of 12 ships known as the Winthrop Fleet left England and headed for Massachusetts. It reached Salem, Massachusetts, on June 12th. Winthrop himself sailed aboard the Arbella. It was while he was still aboard the Arbella that Winthrop gave a famous speech in which he said:
"For wee must Consider that wee shall be as a Citty upon a Hill, the eies of all people are uppon us; soe that if wee shall deale falsely with our god in this worke wee have undertaken and soe cause him to withdrawe his present help from us, wee shall be made a story and a byword through the world, wee shall open the mouthes of enemies to speake evill of the wayes of god and all professours for Gods sake...."
These words embody the spirit of the Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While they emigrated to the New World to be able to freely practice their religion, they did not espouse freedom of religion for other settlers.
Settling Boston
Though Winthrop's Fleet landed at Salem, they did not stay; the tiny settlement simply couldn't support hundreds of additional settlers. Within a short time, Winthrop and his group had moved, at the invitation of Winthrop's college friend William Blackstone, to a new location on a nearby peninsula. In 1630, they renamed their settlement Boston after the town they had left in England.
In 1632, Boston was made the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1640, hundreds more English Puritans had joined Winthrop and Blackstone in their new colony. By 1750, more than 15,000 colonists lived in Massachusetts.
By the President of the United States of America John Adams
A PROCLAMATION
As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable Duty which the People owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that Morality and Piety, without which social Happiness cannot exist, nor the Blessings of a Free Government be enjoyed;
and as this Duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of Difficulty and of Danger, when existing or threatening Calamities, the just Judgments of God against prevalent Iniquity are a loud call to Repentance and Reformation;
and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly Disposition, Conduct and Demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our Messengers of Reconciliation and Peace, by Depredations on our Commerce, and the Infliction of Injuries on very many of our Fellow- Citizens, while engaged in their lawful Business on the Seas:
Under these considerations it has appeared to me that the Duty of imploring the Mercy and Benediction of Heaven on our Country, demands at this time a special attention from its Inhabitants.
I HAVE therefore thought it fit to recommend, and I do hereby recommend, that Wednesday, the Ninth day of May next be observed throughout the United States, as a day of Solemn Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer;
That the Citizens of these States, abstaining on that Day from their customary Worldly Occupations, offer their devout Addresses to the Father of Mercies, agreeably to those forms or methods which they have severally adopted as the most suitable and becoming;
That all Religious Congregations do, with the deepest humility, acknowledge before GOD the manifold Sins and Transgressions with which we are justly chargeable as Individuals and as a Nation;
beseeching him, at the same time, of his infinite Grace, through the Redeemer of the World, freely to remit all our Offences, and to incline us, by his Holy Spirit, to that sincere Repentance and Reformation which may afford us reason to hope for his inestimable Favour and Heavenly Benediction;
That it be made the subject of particular and earnest supplication, that our country may be protected from all the dangers which threaten it; that our Civil and Religious privileges may be preserved inviolate, and perpetuated to the latest Generations; that our public Councils and Magistrates may be especially enlightened and directed at this critical period; that the American People may be united in those Bonds of Amity and mutual Confidence, and inspired with that Vigour and Fortitude by which they have in times past been so highly distinguished, and by which they have obtained such invaluable Advantages:
That the Health of the Inhabitants of our Land may be preserved, and their Agriculture, Commerce, Fisheries, Arts and Manufactures be blessed and prospered:
That the principles of Genuine Piety and Sound Morality may influence the Minds and govern the Lives of every description of our Citizens; and that the Blessings of Peace, Freedom, and Pure Religion, may be speedily extended to all the Nations of the Earth.
And finally I recommend, that on the said day, the Duties of Humiliation and Prayer be accompanied by fervent Thanksgiving to the Bestower of every Good Gift, not only for having hitherto protected and preserved the People of these United States in the independent Enjoyment of their Religious and Civil Freedom, but also for having prospered them in a wonderful progress of Population, and for conferring on them many and great Favours conducive to the Happiness and Prosperity of a nation.
GIVEN under my Hand and the Seal of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, this twenty-third day of March, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the said States the twenty-second.
John Adams.
By the President
Thomas Pickering.
Secretary of State
JOHN WINTHROP'S SERMON:
Thus stands the cause between God and us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We have professed to enterprise these and those accounts, upon these and those ends. We have hereupon besought Him of favor and blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, and bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant and sealed our commission, and will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, and be revenged of such a people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, “may the Lord make it like that of New England.” For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. “Beloved, there is now set before us life and death, good and evil,” in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.
Restoring Godly Roots in our 13 Colonies
Godly roots were planted in the original 13 colonies in the USA. A project to restore them using God's solution in the Bible begins in the first colony, Virginia, on February 1.
On February 1, 2022 a day of repentance will take place in Virginia. Individuals in Virginia, and throughout the USA, and in 47 nations, will take time, in prayer, fasting and humble repentance that day, confessing our personal and national sins, and acknowledging our firm dependence upon the Living God.
God gives His solution to heal a land in 2 Chronicles 7:14: " if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. "
Twelve additional days of repentance, focusing on each colony, will then take place on the first of each month, ending with the last established colony, Georgia, on February 1, 2023.
The next day of repentance will focus on Massachusetts on March 1, 2022.
Resources to hold a repentance service in a church or small group are available on the website: www.globalrepent.com
Building on a national and International Day of Repentance held on December 1, 2021 which focused on abortion, joined by 70 Christian ministries, the project seeks to continue this momentum for national repentance. According to Christian historians, This Godly solution to heal a land has been used over 800 times in our history; it's time to use it again.
A two hour zoom call will be held on March 1. Please email us at the email below for information. Members of Congress, and local politicians have been invited to participate. But in keeping with scripture, the main emphasis is on individual repentance, one on One, with Him that day.
Please note: As we continue our "march through the colonies," focusing on acts of repentance for each one throughout this year and into the next, we welcome your own thoughts and research for each one, identifying needs for repentance in each colony. Thank you for contacting us at the address below.
Information:
Pastor Jeff Daly
National Day of Repentance
www.globalrepent.com
pastorjeff@repentday.com
(707) 350-0659
Prayer Points
Pray that many will heed the move of the Holy Spirit to confess that:
We have not placed the Living God first in our lives
We have not fully protected the most vulnerable, including children in the womb
We have created idols, including pride in ourselves, our agendas, our families, our financial status
We have sanctioned sexual perversions, instead of seeing them in His eyes as sinful and capable of being removed by the Holy Spirit
We have failed to follow His destiny for citizens of our State to act as His city set on a hill, a light to the world.
Pray that having confessed these personal and collective sins, many will also repent so that He will hear from heaven, forgive sins and heal our land.
Pray that intercessors from many nations will join in this Day and in future Days of Repentance, repenting themselves, and then praying as the Holy Spirit directs
Cruelties and Killings that Muted / Blocked
The Godly Roots
From the viewpoint of the Native Americans the following eventually took place:
Innocent bloodshed upon the land
Stealing of land
Breaking of covenants with the tribes
Removing the ancient landmarks
Slavery
Doing it all in the Name of God !
Oppression
Political agendas to control, build and possess the wealth of the land while keeping it from others
Racism
Establishing free masonry in the government and economic systems
Sacrificing babies to the spirit of death
Establishing idols in the land and worshiping them
Allowing foreign gods, false religions into our land
Selfishness, humanism, individualism
Additionally, in the Massachusetts Colony, denominational divisions arose among Christians, the Salem witch trials took place, some of the zeal of the early colonists became muted by worldly pleasures and the lure of economic prosperity
One on One---a basic approach to repentance
Spend time alone with the Lord. He loves you. He created you. He knew you in your mother's womb and even at the beginning of His creation.
Thanks to the work of His Son, Jesus/ Yeshua, all the sins of mankind have been covered by Jesus' blood and His victory.
Now the invitation is to come into His Kingdom through repentance, changing your thinking, dying to your old ways, and believing in Jesus, the risen Christ, as the Lord of your life.
His Holy Spirit then will be in you, to give you a new life purpose and eternal life with Him.
Now that you're in His Kingdom, He calls each of us to cleanse, to purify, to get ready as His Bride for His soon return as our Bridegroom. There's no guilt; no condemnation; He loves you and wants all of us to be Overcomers of our old sin patterns, to be able to have the privilege " to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne." (Revelation 3:19-21).
Steps to repent, one on One:
Come in to the Kingdom through repentance---Matthew 4:17
Now that you're in the Kingdom, you have the Holy Spirit
Invite the Risen Christ to dine with you Revelation 3:20
Praise Him, honor the King of kings
Ask Him which old sin pattern He suggests you look at
Receive His Wisdom and consider confessing that sin
Confess the sin
Receive His forgiveness
Consider removing that sin pattern forever through your free will decision to repent, turning to Him instead
Repent
Replace that sin pattern with one of His Words as your new direction
Experience His Joy which will now never leave you as your new strength--and witness to others; you're bearing Holy Spirit fruit worthy of His gift of repentance!
*** A M E N ***
Below is the Recording of our Zoom Call today: March 1st, 2022…
JOIN US FOR OUR NEXT GLOBAL DAY OF REPENTANCE