A few weeks ago, we wrote a post featuring a video of Bryan Fischer rewriting American history in order to claim that the American Revolution was not a “rebellion” because, according to the Bible, all governing authorities have been established by God and therefore rebellion against them is rebellion against God.
We should have known that this idea originated with David Barton, who discussed it on “WallBuilders Live” today, claiming that the American Revolution was actually “obedience to God”:
Barton: A lot of people get lost over the American Revolution, they say there is no way America could ever be blessed because it was born out of rebellion, they rebelled against God. No, not if you understand civil disobedience and what the Biblical issues are. Now, if you went to a public school and you were told that the Revolution was only about taxation without representation, then you can say, yeah, that was rebellion. But that’s not the only issue that was there and that’s one of the things that public schools are not taught is the other twenty-six clauses of the Declaration.
There is a reason that the first national motto proposed … was “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” There’s a reason for that. We’re not trying to disobey but obedience to God causes us to rebel against tyrants who tell us to do the opposite of what God said.
Rick Green: So even that phrase that they used really was encapsulating the philosophy and the Biblical foundation of when it’s okay, when it’s right, actually when you should say “no” to government.
Barton: If you have a tyrant that’s telling you that you can’t do what God told you to do, then rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. And that’s what they said; they said we’re not in rebellion, we’re in complete submission to God on this.
