For more than a decade, the Vision Forum Faith and Freedom Tour has traveled America (and even the world) taking families to those great historical sites where they can stand by the landmarks to our liberties and study the faith of our fathers. On many occasions we have traveled to New England and to the Virginia regions, but only once has our tour taken us to the middle states. The Philadelphia Faith and Freedom Tour brought us from the battlefields of Brandywine to the Constitutional Convention of Philadelphia. Our journey began with the causes for colonization and the founding of the “City of Brotherly Love” and took us to the early cradle of the American Republic. We studied the theology of colonial American and federal time period architecture, the military strategies of the British invaders, and stood with Washington on the banks of the Delaware for his midnight crossing. Painting, warfare, pulpit preaching, and of course, the principles of constitutional government which were articulated and defended by the Founding Fathers, were all the subjects of our week-long pilgrimage into America’s patriotic past.
Footnote: The most recent edition of Newsweek magazine is entitled “We Are All Socialists Now.” It argues that the debate over free markets and Christian values are over. Darwin has won. Malthus has won. The anti-life vision of the contraceptive planners has won — I disagree! If Christians will be faithful to the Lord, if fathers will turn their hearts to their families, and if parents will be diligent in raising up a generation of Christ-loving, hope-filled, biblically-trained, historically-informed children of vision who will love the Lord with all their heart, we can have more hope for the mercy and grace of God on America than were we to even have fundamental political change. In short, if the remnant legions of Christians will be faithful, we can have great hope for this very special plot of earth which has been uniquely blessed of the Lord.
I am firmly convinced that one component of the necessary strategy for training our children is to teach them providential history. They need to understand the progress of the Church, the sacrifices of our spiritual fathers, and the best arguments and ideas which advanced the cause of liberty. They need to understand where they came from and how God brought them here. They need to understand what makes their own nation of America special — how it reflects a unique investment on the part of the Lord into His people, and the significant duties we have as a result of that investment. They need a form of perspective that only comes from studying the hand of God in history. More than ever it is important that Christian families understand the theological roots of the American Republic
That is why we have decided to release for the first time Let Freedom Ring: The Philadelphia Faith and Freedom Tour, a very special teaching tool which provides a dynamic, inspirational overview of one part of the story of God’s providential hand over our land. These are great messages to incorporate into your home education curriculum, or to listen in the car on the way to work.