DAVID BARTON: HISTORIAN OR PROPOGANDIST?
Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 11:27AM Chris Pinto “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)
Without question, David Barton is the leading history teacher among those who long to hear stories about the Christian founding of America, and as we know, for the past year, he has operated as Glenn Beck’s historian on Fox News. As believers, we all rejoice to hear about those who stood strong in the faith, especially in the face of difficult trials. But does this apply to the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution? Were they Bible believing Christian men fighting to establish a Christian nation? According to teachers like David Barton, the answer is yes. But as we show in the film, The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers, much of Barton’s historical information is quoted out of its full context. He gives the false impression that the revolutionaries supported Christianity, when in truth they rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and were even hostile to its precepts.
JOHN ADAMS & THE HOLY GHOST
Perhaps the greatest example of Barton’s mishandling of history is a quote he presents by John Adams, the second president of the United States. The quote is from a letter by Adams to Benjamin Rush, in which the author writes about the Holy Ghost. When presented by David Barton, the quote makes it appear that John Adams had a strong Christian conviction. Immediately, anyone who has studied Adams in history would be concerned, since he was a well-known Unitarian. In other words, Adams did not even believe that the Holy Ghost existed.
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Adams wrote specifically against the concept of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and the Christian belief that these three are one. Adams, like many of the revolutionaries, was influenced by the Pagan concept of “Reason” which is the belief that the wisdom of the natural man should govern human affairs. While Adams rejected Biblical revelation, his true faith was in what he called the revelation of human understanding, which caused him to reject the Holy Trinity. He wrote to Jefferson:
“The human understanding is a revelation … This revelation has made it certain that two and one make three, and that one is not three nor can three be one …. Had you and I been forty days with Moses on Mount Sinai, and admitted to behold the divine Shechinah, and there told that one was three and three one, we might not have had courage to deny it, but we could not have believed it. The thunders and lightnings and earthquakes, and the transcendent splendors and glories, might have overwhelmed us with terror and amazement, but we could not have believed the doctrine. We should be more likely to say in our hearts — whatever we might say with our lips—, This is chance. There is no God, no truth. This is all delusion, fiction, and a lie, or it is all chance.” (John Adams, Letter to Thomas Jefferson, September 14, 1818)
Notice, Adams is saying that even if he and Jefferson were on Mount Sinai with Moses, they still could not believe the doctrine of the Trinity. This stubborn form of unbelief was warned about by Christ Himself in Luke 16:31 where He says, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
The same wording from Adams’ letter where he says: “one was three and three one” – which is a clear reference to Trinitarian doctrine, was also used by his wife, Abigail Adams. In a letter to her son, she wrote:
"I acknowledge myself a Unitarian -- Believing that the Father alone, is the supreme God … There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three." (Abigail Adams, Letter to her son, John Quincy Adams, May 5, 1816)
Clearly, she agreed with her husband. In the same letter to Thomas Jefferson, Adams goes on to rail against those who have believed Trinitarian doctrine in the churches. He acknowledges that they would reject the idea of Adams as being a Christian. He says:
“Howl, snarl, bite, ye Calvinistic, ye Athanasian divines, if you will; ye will say I am no Christian; I say ye are no Christians, and there the account is balanced.” (Adams, Letter to Jefferson, Sept. 14, 1818)
The reference to “Calvinistic” is because John Calvin had famously condemned Michael Servetus who also rejected the concept of a Triune God; while his sleight toward “Athanasian divines” refers to those who embraced the Athanasian Creed, which was a confession of faith in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
BARTON & THE LETTER FROM ADAMS
It turns out that David Barton actually owns a copy of this letter from Adams to Benjamin Rush, which he presents with subtle dramatic flair in his presentations. He has shown this letter on the Glenn Beck program, and also in church. He holds it up, as an old looking piece of parchment paper that convinces the audience that what he is about to tell them must be true. This is what he is famous for. I have even heard Christians reject sound information to the contrary simply because they saw Barton holding “original source documents” when he spoke to them. His letter from Adams, of course, is true; but not the way he presents it.
In his church presentation, Barton begins by saying, “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of John Adams’ letters. I brought one just in case you might want to see one.” Then he walks toward the congregation, gently holding up the letter, in what can only be called a clever bit of theatrics. He says, “He wrote this to Benjamin Rush … signed on the back by John Adams here …” pointing to the reverse of the letter.
Barton continues, “But I want you to see the kind of stuff that John Adams would write in his letters …” Then he has the letter presented on a slide screen so everyone can see it; but of course, the writing itself is so small that no one could possibly read it. Then a red arrow points to a particular paragraph. Barton says, “I’m gonna read from the bottom paragraph … you see where the arrow is pointing? It says, the Holy Ghost. Look what John Adams declares in this letter.”
Then Barton presents the following quote:
“The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in His truth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a Sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost … There is no authority civil or religious: There can be no legitimate government but what is administered by the Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation.”
Then with a wry tone, Barton says: “I don’t think I saw that on the HBO special.” His implication is that the producers of the film, “John Adams” somehow covered up Adams’ Christian faith. His rhetoric feeds into the “us against them” mentality that many Christians have toward left wing media, and fuels Barton’s repeated assertion that the “revisionists” have covered up the “faith” of the Revolutionary Founders. But what was their faith? In truth, the letter Barton is presenting provides some of the most damning evidence found anywhere, and is consistent with many of the writings of the Revolutionaries, proving their contempt for Bible based Christianity.
In this letter, John Adams was not speaking in approval of the Holy Ghost, but was rather mocking the idea of it and of the faith of true Christians. As we showed before, Adams did not believe the Holy Ghost was real, and he spoke about it in what can only be called insulting and irreverent terms.
The full context of the letter is presented below, and can also be found on David Barton’s Wallbuilders website.
“The Holy Ghost carries on the whole Christian system in this Earth. Not a baptism, not a marriage, not a Sacrament can be administered but by the Holy Ghost … There is no authority civil or religious: There can be no legitimate government but what is administered by this Holy Ghost. There can be no salvation without it. All without it is rebellion and perdition, or in more orthodox words damnation. Although this is all artifice and cunning in the secret original in the heart, yet they all believe it so sincerely that they would lie down their lives under the ax or the fiery fagots for it. Alas, the poor weak ignorant dupe human nature.” (John Adams, Letter to Benjamin Rush, December 21, 1809)
Notice that Adams says that belief in the authority of the Holy Ghost is “all artifice and cunning.” The word “artifice” means clever deception or fakery. When he says “they would lay down their lives under the ax or the fiery fagots for it,” he is referring to Christians who have died for the faith. He then calls them “weak, ignorant, dupe[s].” Obviously, Adams’ intent in mentioning the Holy Ghost was the exact opposite of what was presented by David Barton. How Barton, who claims to have read more of the Founders writings than anyone else, could have overlooked this, we can only wonder.
The question is, why would Barton quote the letter out of context and then show the whole thing on his website? It is this writer’s opinion that he does such things for two reasons: 1) he knows that most of his audience will not double-check his information; and 2) so he can always refute claims of manipulation. “I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone,” he can say. “After all, I presented the whole letter on my website.”
Chris Pinto Exposes David Barton from Noise of Thunder on Vimeo.
The Bible tells us to “prove all things” (1 Thess. 5:21) and to “earnestly contend for the faith” (Jude 3) that was once delivered to us by Jesus and the Apostles. The purpose of this article is to remind our Christian brethren that our loyalty should be to Christ and the Gospel, “not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nothing” (1 Corinthians 2:6).
Furthermore, the Scriptures are very clear that if any man does not abide in the “doctrine of Christ” he should not be received in the church and should not receive the blessing or approval of Christians (2 John 9-11). As such, should Christians receive the Founding Fathers into our houses of worship today?
Reader Comments (8)
Have you ever spoken with David Barton about this in person? How did he respond?
Yes, we sent a copy of the finished film with a letter to David Barton, inviting
him to reply to, or refute the information we presented. To date, he has not responded.
Also, he was invited by Dr. J. Michael Bennett of the FutureQuake Radio Program
to debate on the air -- he declined. Recently, he has been
invited by Brannon Howse of World View Weekend Radio to debate and has not yet responded. We feel this is quite significant, since
Brannon Howse has been for years a personal friend of Mr. Barton. All that
to say, repeated efforts have been made to reach out to him, but so far, with
no reply on his part.
I heard David Barton will also not debate American History professor, Dr. Gregg Frazer, at the Master's College. Dr. Frazer did his dissertation on whether the most popular Founding Fathers were Christians, his conclusion - NO
You can purchase his dissertation from Masters. Here is a an MP3 link to a message Dr. Frazer gave back in 2003 -
https://www2.masters.edu/pulpit/files/2003/Truth-and-Life-%2703/Seminar-6-Frazer-mp3
For many, there religion was the satanic Freemasons.
Barton will be coming to my church later in the year. I first met him at a WVW conference in Kansas over a decade ago and again last year when he came to Duncan, Oklahoma while I was attempting to run for Congress. The 4th District Committeeman has a Wallbuilders speaker annually. This past year, Barton himself was the speaker.
God willing, I will make this an issue in next year's election if the Lord enables me to run.
I will try to get a statement from him when he comes to my church to speak. That's if my pastor allows me near him. I have already sent him (my pastor) a couple of Brannon's video clips about Beck and this issue recently. He did not respond the way I hoped.
He is one of the leaders in the Oklahoma Tea Party movement as well as head of the Black Robe Regiment movement in Oklahoma. As much as we agree on theology and such, he is more inclined to compromise than he knows he should. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I hope he will come to his senses because it has been a hard long road to find a like-minded church for me and my wife. I hope I will not be looking for a new church home next year. Put my pastor on your prayer list. He and another pastor in the OKC area, who is head of the Reclaim America for Christ group, are attempting to put a radio show together in Oklahoma with the focus of awakening the church to the political arena.
I look forward to getting your dvd and hope that I can help bring your information to the forefront in Oklahoma, as well as the nation, God willing.
Received and watched your "Hidden Faith..." DVD. Excellent production. I am thankful to have come across you and your material. I hope for a deeper relationship with you than just a few blogs every now and then, God willing. I also viewed all 3 volumes of your "Secret Mysteries" dvd series and am quite impressed with those as well. I look forward to future material from you, hopefully sooner than later.
Some questions I have and I'm sure your future web surfers to come here may want to know:
Benjamin Rush: Christian or not?
Other founding fathers: Which were Christian, (non-masonic or anti-masonic)? What of the Christian influences of the Revolution?
Bible Societies: Started by Rush and others. What is your perspective on those?
Barton's other material: all distorted or which is trustworthy?
Barton's book "Original Intent": accurate or not? I found it most educational and enlightening. I would hate to hear it to be a distortion as well, but will accept the truth if you show it to be other than what Barton presents.
Black Robe Regiment: Christian or Masonic? There is a revival of this topic, of which my own pastor is taking the lead on. I need to understand this in order to deal with this in my own church as well as any future politics I involve myself in.
Preachers/preaching of the Revolution times: What can you say of the pulpits of that time? I have not read the book yet, but my pastor has been reading sermons of that period to assist him in his Black Robe Regiment recruiting for today.
Politics today: What is your perspective on Christians participating in politics today? Your introduction on the "Hidden Faith" dvd makes it sound like you are against getting involved. If we are to leave it to the Masons and non-Christians to rule us, how shall we ever enjoy freedom when it is taken away completely? If a non-Christian in government office becomes a Christian, are they to resign and cease from politics once they are in office?
I hope you are not against Christians getting involved and fighting for their rights as citizens. Even Paul exercised his rights as a Roman citizen in his day. If Queen Esther had not exercised her "political clout" the Jewish people would have suffered greatly from the plot of their enemies.
I agree with your views that we should not put our "Holy Constitution" above the Holy Bible and Gospel of our Savior, which is something I have already confronted my pastor and other Christians in the Oklahoma GOP recently. God willing, I will challenge the "two headed phoenix" next year as an Independent. I don't know about you, but I don't believe in coincidence. I believe God has brought us together for a reason.
If you haven't obtained my book yet, I hope you will do as I requested and get it and then correct me where I am wrong. With or without you, God willing, I plan on challenging this anti-Christ spirit leading both our political parties to destruction and, as you and Howse point out, the church into apostasy as well.
I look forward to your responses. I'm sure you will not respond to all questions on this one post, so I hope you will post future articles on these separate questions in order to address them properly and sufficiently.
I have other comments and questions that may need private email conversations to address. Hope you will converse with me. Thank you for your ministry and commitment to truth and Christ's gospel.
Ooops. Forgot to ask other questions.
What is Barton's background?
What can you make of his motivation to distort history like he does? Greed? Power? Is he self-deceived or part of some "secret society" or "secret conspiracy" to mislead the church? Obviously, all are deceived by the Father of Lies to some extent when they listen to "another gospel" and follow another Jesus, but do you know of Barton being officially associated with any person or group to send him down this road?
Thanks greatly to you and Brannon for truly showing us things that are so easy to overlook. These are things you wouldn't normally think are important, but added up make a mountain, one that must be moved out of our way. Praise the Lord we have a name that can move mountains. Praise Jesus.
Thank you for pointing out one of many distortions of fact by David Barton.