Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to ask you, what are 12 things that have happened in America that have not been seen in history anywhere else? We're talking the uniqueness of the American experiment here. Now, I've been wanting to do something like this with the approaching 250th anniversary of American independence.

What makes us great? What makes us different from all the other nations of the world that have come and gone? So, between now and Independence Day 2026, which is the 250th anniversary of our independence, well, I hope to detail 12 things that have happened in America that have not been seen like they have been in America since the beginning of the world. Now, I feel privileged to have been born an American in my day and time. I have been the beneficiary of generations of my fellow citizens who have labored to be free and prosper themselves and their families and to worship and live as God intended.

Like every good covenant people, those generations have sought to pass that heritage on to me. And in turn, I hope to pass that covenant heritage on to my children and the next generation. And that wildly prosperous and free life is directly rooted in biblical and constitutional principle. Without the Christian faith, none of what we discuss here today would be possible. As Louis Cass, who was the territorial governor of Michigan in the early 19th century, my home state, Michigan, he said, and I quote him, the fate of Republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion.

And a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passions and of arbitrary power. Unquote. Oh, embrace and live the Christian faith and be free. Reject it and sink back into mankind's condition for millennia, that is slavery. And as a consequence, we have seen things happen in America that no one in all of human history has seen happen.

Behold, 12 things. And I'm going to take them week by week here over the next four broadcasts. Our first three things that have happened in America that have not been seen in all of history. Number one, we have a Republican constitution founded on an idea rather than tribe or race. Very important.

Republican constitution, small r. That mean, that means we are a republic, not a democracy. We have a Republican small r constitution, not the party, but the form of government, a Republican constitution founded on an idea rather than tribe or race. Oh, dear listener, gaze across the sweep of human history and tell me of whom are the peoples of the nations composed? Oh, they are racial and ethnic tribes. China, for example, is an ancient culture whose very name, China, is the anglicized pronunciation for the Xin dynasty.

One tribe among many competing tribes that rose to prominence and power in 221 BC and has dominated ever since. Even the language of China, Mandarin Chinese, is that of the upper classes of China and is the tribal heritage of the Xin clan. And overall, China is a very proud and discriminating people in culture. They consider Beijing to be the navel of the universe, if you will, that is the center point of all creation, and the Chinese to be the superior race over all others. The naive, brainwashed progressive in your average blue city would be shocked at how prejudiced the average Chinese person is.

That very progressive is scorned by the man on the street in China. Well, even the contemptible Somali community here in the United States, recently in the news for their grifting of the American welfare system in Minnesota, they are so arrogant as to imagine themselves as natural inheritors of America, Somalis. They embrace the historical fiction that Somali explorers preceded English ones, and they lay claim to America. They also see themselves as a superior race, and even within Somali culture, a particular clan is thought to be superior to all others. And those are the Magirtin Darude.

Now, that doesn't mean a lot to us, but it does to Somalis. Somalis are a deeply racist people who once more see even the naive, brainwashed progressives who champion them as weak and worthy of extermination. This includes the evil, hateful Ilhan Omar, congresswoman from Minnesota. Well, dear listener, tribes, clans, and race all have been the determinative factors in human governance. Although we credit the Greeks with innovating in early form of democracy, for example, and experiments with the republic, the Greeks, they all took place within the context of tribal and ethnic realities.

The same can be said for the far more successful application of a republican system of government brought into existence by Rome. The Latins, the Sabines, the Etruscan peoples were divided into 30 curiae, as they were called, that composed the voting blocks of the Roman Republic. But it's crucial to remember, they were racially and ethnically based. And as the Republic grew and morphed into an empire, enfolding more and more peoples across the Mediterranean basin, what remained essential to defining who was more equal than others was being Roman, tracing one's ethnicity to being Latin or Sabine or Etruscan.

So thoroughly embedded in our DNA is this tribal impulse that it can be said to determine the behavior of primitive people in our modern age, too. Witness the naive, brainwashed, progressive of our day, a primitive backward people, if ever there was one. And I have documented this phenomenon in previous broadcasts. I urge you to consult a recent broadcast, figuring out the destructive ways of the progressive, the trap of the tribe, the trap of the tribe. And that was broadcast on April 26th of 2026.

And you can access that at our website, americastruths.org, americastruths.org, in our archives. Well, in stark contrast to this historical inertia, our founding fathers put forward the enlightenment proposal that all men are created equal. Oh, that famous phrase from the Declaration, right? All men are created equal. That simple phrase summarizes the biblical truth that, now, in Christ Jesus, tribal and ethnic differences and divides are done away with.

The Apostle Paul puts it this way. He says, in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free.

There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Unquote. Oh, now, it took a long while for this principle to take hold in the church's thinking, but it finally triumphed in the Founding Fathers' elaboration of the Constitution and its founding principles. For the first time in humanity's long, sad history, citizenship in a Christian constitutional republic would be based upon the idea that all men, regardless of race, excuse me, or ethnicity, would be citizens of a free republic. Can you see how that goes against the grain of historical inertia?

Can you see why the primitive peoples, like progressives, so recoil in horror at such an idea? It must be made crystal clear with the most emphatic boldness that the equality of all men in a free republic is grounded in biblical Christianity. Noah Webster, yes, of Webster Dictionary fame. Noah Webster put it this way. He said, the religion which introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence, which acknowledges in every person a brother or a sister and a citizen with equal rights.

This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government. Unquote. Noah Webster, do not be fooled by skeptical, scoffing progressives. The very DEI they attempt to foist on us as moral and right is but a twisted perversion of biblical equality. Yeah, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Oh, progressive diversity means men in women's sports, transgender pedophiles in your grade schools, in your tax dollars, paying for prison inmate transgender surgeries. Progressive equity means equity, equality of outcomes. That is that everyone receives the same results for their work no matter their level of contribution. It's the old Marxist maxim, from each according to his abilities, to each according to his need. Oh, that sounds so confound, doesn't it?

But it isn't. Biblical equality means that all men receive equal justice before God, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. They stand, all of us stand, upon the same level ground before God's bar of justice, and when this is extended to human government, we see a free, just constitutional republic. Or progressive inclusion means we embrace everyone and every belief system, no matter how contradictory or destructive of our constitutional system it may be. Does communism have a legitimate role to play in America's future?

How about radical Islam? Each of them will, by their very nature, destroy a constitutional republic from within by their reception into our political system. Our constitution is not a suicide pact, dear listener. Reject both of them. If the human race, excuse me, if the human race reverts to its old setting of fear and ignorance and depravity, then it will descend into the slavery she has always known.

But if the human race will exalt Christ as king and institute Christian constitutional republics worldwide, then humanity will flourish as never before and see a millennium of peace and prosperity before Christ returns in power and glory. As we celebrate our 250th year of American liberty and constitutional government, let us hold out to all the world this unique contribution we have made to the world. That is a republican constitution founded on an idea rather than a tribe or race.

Number two, the second contribution America has made that the world has never seen before is a written constitution composed in a brief period of time rather than traditions developed over centuries. Yes, a written objective constitution composed in a brief period of time rather than the millennia indeed of traditions that have developed over centuries. There's something unique in the annals of history as having an instrument of government composed over a few pages of parchment for a vast continent of people. And this composition of genius was created in a few brief summer months in Philadelphia in 1787.

This phenomenon is really a corollary of our previous contribution to humanity by America. That is a republican constitution founded on an idea rather than a tribe or race. Who could have imagined such a thing? History militated against it ever happening. The principle at stake here is quite simple.

Objective governance versus subjective governance. The aforementioned tribes and clans of the world governed through councils and chieftains who relied upon centuries, sometimes millennia, a tribal tradition and experience. The rule over people in tribal society was deeply subjective at every level. This can be extrapolated to every major civilization in the broad sweep of history. All primitive tribal societies from those in Africa and Asia to North and South America have been governed by what what is called an oral tradition.

Of what does the oral tradition consist? A definition from the website Poem Analysis. Poem Analysis says that oral tradition is the passing down of stories orally from one person to the next. This tradition is an old one dating back to preliterate societies where even if the stories were written down the majority of people couldn't read them. Some stories that may be passed down in this manner include epics, folk narratives, drama, proverbs, and folk songs.

These stories are integral parts of the cultures they originate from as is the practice of sharing them orally. Oral cultures. Even the constitutional heritage from which we have emerged is primarily an oral tradition, with some notable exceptions, which we'll note. Now, the broad sweep of liberties and rights espoused by the British peoples is known as common law. This law is common because it lives in the everyday life of the common man in Britain, and thus common law, which originated in medieval England and is characterized by the use of judicial precedents and customs, rather than written statutes.

This tradition is nothing to sneeze at, I submit, but it has its fatal flaws. Once again, our website puts it this way, and I quote, While oral transmission can introduce variability akin to the game of telephone, it serves as a crucial avenue for preserving and celebrating the rich heritage of diverse societies. It is observed that a consistent characteristic of oral tradition societies is that, once again, I quote, Stories may change with each retelling, influenced by the storyteller's style and audience.

Oral tradition can be more flexible and adaptable, but it may also be subject to changes over time, whereas written communication offers permanence and consistency. Oral tradition in law is subject to change over time. This is an important difference between oral and written traditions. Oral traditions are subject to change over time. And we see that phenomenon manifesting itself in the British Isles today, for example.

In order to usher in a greater world government, British tyrants are steadily encroaching on the freedoms and liberties of our subjects. Freedom of speech used to be a cherished right in England. Do you remember the traditions of the soapbox in Hyde Park, London? Oh yes, great tradition. There, Brits gathered to make speeches and debate and distribute literature on topics of the day, traditionally bringing a soapbox to stand above the crowds.

The most famous spot was the marble arch in Hyde Park, where people would gather, especially on Sundays. But all of that has gone away under Britain's draconian speech laws. These extend to social media now as well, where as many as 30 people a day are being arrested for speech crimes in Britain, according to the New York Post. But there's no appeal to a specific written constitution or a written bill of rights, as there is in America, where we have a First Amendment right to free speech. Right?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." Unquote. The First Amendment. And the same can be said for the right to self-defense in the British Isles. In a very poignant scene in Scotland recently, a 14-year-old girl pulled several knives on a burly Muslim migrant who was threatening her.

Muslim migrants are raping and assaulting British women with impunity in every city on the Isle. Police finally arrived. Ooh. Oh, wow. I bet you think they did the right thing and arrested the man.

But no. They arrested her, the 14-year-old girl, for carrying a bladed weapon. This young girl had more guts and moxie than most Scottish men. But in the eyes of the Scottish authorities, she had no right to defend herself. There is an oral tradition for self-defense in common law, and guns used to be ubiquitous in England.

But over time, common law yielded to tyranny because there was no written record to appeal to, as in our Constitution, where our Second Amendment says a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Well, now, concurrent with common law in Britain is a body of law that is written and specific in articulating English rights. There's the Magna Carta, for example.

Now, under threat of civil war, where King John of England signed a charter of liberties to freemen with his princes standing there with their hands on the hilt of their swords, a foundation was laid for individual rights on June 5, 1215, the Magna Carta. And then there was also the English Bill of Rights. Now, before William and Mary could ascend to the throne in England in 1689, Parliament submitted a Bill of Rights for them to sign and abide by.

England had been through so much in the previous century with the tyranny of the Stuart Kings and the Civil War, a written bill with specific articulated rights for the people was drawn up and signed by the King and Queen. And although not guaranteeing free speech or the right to bear arms, unfortunately, that Bill did guarantee many rights in the courts of England to citizens. Now, our Founding Fathers had these two documents, the English Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta, among others, they had them at their elbow when they wrote our Constitution. They immediately understood the value of an objective, written Constitution.

Thereby, a tyrant might say, who are you going to believe about rights, me or your lying eyes? But such tyrants can never say, our God-given rights are not objectively expressed in a written document that is our Constitution of the United States of America. There is great power for the people in this principle, a gift to the world that did not exist before being given by the United States of America. Well, number three, a third thing that America in her 250 years has given the world, which it had not seen before, is number three, a system whereby power is transferred in an orderly, peaceable fashion. The peaceful transfer of power.

In the long, sad history of humanity, let me ask you, how is power customarily acquired? All too often, it is seized through violence. Whenever a premier in the old Soviet Union died, his successor ascended amid desperate struggles behind the scenes with notable commissars disappearing into prisons or executed for one reason or another. The world knew when stability was restored and who had won when he appeared on the dais of the Kremlin in Red Square. So it was with Stalin and Khrushchev, and even the notorious Vladimir Putin.

This modern scenario is not unique. The annals of history are replete with a drama of regime change, as we like to call it today. Even in Iran, President Trump has guaranteed regime change for the mullahs in charge, right? By blowing up tiers one, two and three of possible successors. Oh, there went the opportunity by the mullahs for peaceful regime change.

But Iran is no stranger to violent regime change. The Ayatollah Khomeini saw to that in 1979 when he overthrew the Shah in a violent Islamic uprising. Previously, the Shah and his successors came to power in a violent overthrow of the monarchy in 1954 in favor of a so-called modern democracy, courtesy of our own CIA. Well, even the institutions created to moderate the tendency to seize power violently failed miserably. Monarchy, for example, was created to peaceably hand power to the next generation of heirs.

The king, before his passing, would crown his eldest son as the heir. And bingo, a reasonable, peaceful transfer of power, right? In fact, for millennia, the so-called divine right of kings was the tacit model for the wielding and exercise of power in the world. How can you argue with a model of power instituted by God? Oh, but the devil is always in the details.

As we know from history, the monarchical system often descended into chaos, as paranoid narcissist fathers killed sons. And ambitious sons killed fathers and brothers and anyone who got in their way. In fact, as if personal court intrigue was not enough, kings often dragged whole countries into wars with one another in order to grab the succession. Yes, one of the most famous is what has come to be known as the War of the Roses, fought in England for 30 years, between 1455 and 1485. The houses of York, who brandished the white rose, and the houses of Lancaster, that brandished the red rose, they were vying for the throne.

And the land quickly descended into anarchy, as armies ranged across England. And of course, it was the common man who suffered the most in the strife. Now, our founding fathers had wars like this in mind when they fought to distinguish themselves from, as they called them, the European barbaric wars of dynastic succession. The European barbaric wars of dynastic succession. Our constitution was specifically designed to depart from this tragic pattern.

For instance, regular elections controlled by the individual states would assure a brief stay of power by any given individual public servant. He would be limited by a length of service in a term. Also, successors would be elected by the people, rather than being ordained or crowned by a monarch. And elected public servants would be nominated from the people themselves, not from a monarchical class of lords. Even the president, head of the executive branch, was intended to be a kind of national CEO, not a king.

And for almost 200 years, this model worked successfully until, arguably, power was tragically arrested from our 35th president, John F. Kennedy, when forces within our own government assassinated him. And that is a broadcast for another day detailing that. Perhaps this precious heritage is being stolen from us, the peaceful transfer of power by the machinations of the federal dominion of demons. That is the deep state. But we have the model given us by our founding fathers in the Constitution.

Will we reclaim that heritage, dear listener? What is crucial to all of these features America has given to the world is a people who will honor the gift. We must be a people of honor and integrity ourselves if we will have men and women of honor and integrity to represent us in government. None of these gifts, a republican constitution founded on an idea rather than tribe or race, or an objective written constitution rather than oral tradition, and a system whereby power is transferred in an orderly, peaceable fashion, none of these will last if we are not worthy of them.

John Adams puts it this way, this constitution was meant only for a moral and ethical people. It is entirely unsuited to other America. As we approach our 250th year, can we say this about ourselves? Are we a people of moral and ethical character? What kind of government do we deserve today?

Let us pray that we become a people worthy of the good gifts of our founding fathers bestowed us in the Constitution of the United States of America. Embrace the Lord Jesus Christ and live out your Christian religion, and let us become that moral and ethical people. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us for more information and feedback at 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.