By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
MANDEVILLE – A host of St. Tammany public officials who joined in the annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast last Friday at the Fleur de Lis banquet hall in Mandeville got a pretty good history lesson about the foundation principles the United States was founded upon.
Hosted by the Christian Business Men’s Connection and Life Resources, the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast was MC’d by 22nd Judicial Court D.A. Warren Montgomery and attended by almost every mayor in St. Tammany Parish.
In attendance among the parish mayors was Peter Gitz from Madisonville, Freddy Drennan from Slidell, Mike Cooper from Covington, Donald Villere from Mandeville, Greg Lemons from Abita Springs, Bettye Boggs from Folsom and Richard Kivett from Sun. Parish President Pat Brister was also in attendance.
The sold out crowd of over 250 listened to Tim Barton of Wallbuilders, a national organization that presents a message of America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on our religious, moral and constitutional heritage.
Barton provided intriguing information that has been compiled from over 100,000 historical documents, dating back to before 1812 all the way to the Revolutionary War and before.
He cited one historical document after another, coupled with historical paintings and drawings that depicted the founding fathers and their continual reliance on the God from the Bible to lead the United States from its earliest days.
“The Bible is the reason the United States is different from all other countries,” Barton said. “Teddy Roosevelt was quoted many years after our country began saying that the Bible is so interwoven into our heritage that it’s impossible to see how our life would be without it.”
Barton told several stories about the founding fathers meeting in the midst of the Revolutionary War getting started, noting that history records Congress praying two hours every day before they began meeting.
During the revolution there were 15 national calls to prayer and Congress had over 1,400 calls to prayer for the country before 1815.
“Yet, even with that history in our country most Americans have no idea about the faith our country was founded upon,” Barton added.
One of the key reasons the United States sought freedom from Great Britain was because the king of England would not allow Bibles to be printed in America.
When the U.S. won the last Battle of Yorktown in 1781, one of the first acts Congress voted for was to print Bibles in the United States. One historical document from 1782 from Congress stated the importance of “needing Bibles in our schools,” while one of the first documents by Congress that ended the Revolutionary War was titled, “In the name of the Holy and undivided Trinity.”
Barton told the story of the representatives from the original 13 states meeting in Philadelphia after the war was over, ready to create the U.S. Constitution, but there were almost 13 different views on what laws the United States would be established on. After a month of debate there was little common ground so Benjamin Franklin spoke to Congress and called for everyone to take three days off and go to church and pray.
“When they returned from three days off after praying every day for unity the U.S. Constitution was written and agreed upon,” Barton said. “George Washington was quoted as saying it was our duty as a nation to ask God for wisdom and guidance in all matters.
“History clearly records what a faith consciousness our founding fathers all had,” he said.
Barton concluded by noting that the average home in the United States has 4.4 Bibles, but 95 percent of Americans have never read the entire Bible.
“Our faith needs to be a vital part of what we do,” Barton said.
Montgomery closed the meeting by encouraging the public to pray for all the mayors and public officials, then showed some emotion himself in asking the public to pray for himself since “I now have to decide when to seek the death penalty in cases before the 22nd Judicial Court.”
The Christian Business Men’s Connection that hosted the event holds area Bible studies among business men in the area and invited others to join their meetings. More information on their group can be found by calling Barry Haindel at 504-450-8198.