That little saying was popular when I was a kid growing up. I learned early that it meant to sign my name to the piece of paper I was writing or the contents on a document I believed in. In elementary school I was taught who John Hancock was in the history of America. He was an American patriot and the very first signer of the Declaration of Independence. His name is in the center of the document and written in large letters. He wanted King George and all of England to know whose side he was on. It cost him, along with his 54 co-signers, dearly. At one time, most of these men were influential and wealthy. Some were lawyers, some were jurists. Some were farmers, most were well educated. When they signed their names, it was a death warrant if the British caught them. What happened to them? Five were captured by the British; jailed, beaten, and executed. Twelve had their homes pillaged and torched. Two had sons die while serving in the Revolutionary Army under George Washington. These men came from many different walks of life. What caused them to bond in belief and spirit? As a group they believed that freedom and liberty were rights given by God and not to be violated by the government, officials, or fellow citizens. The overwhelming majority of these men were Christian, contrary to the revisionist history passed around today in the average classroom. The Bible was where they learned these truths. All were not of the same stripe religiously, but all knew there was a Creator that they were subservient to and under His authority. Notice the references to the Lord. BTW, the references they make concerning God or Creator is referring to the God of the Bible, not another deity from another ancient writing.

Let me give you some of my favorite quotes from a few of these great American Statesmen.

  • “Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.” – John Hancock. (History of the United States of America (Vol. 2, p.229).
  • “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…” (Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, P. 237). “I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.” (The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. P. 385).
  • “The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!”(The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, pp. 165-166).

We could offer quote after quote from the writings of these American forefathers, but these few are sufficient for the space we have in this article. A sobering question we must ask ourselves is, “Are we being faithful to the founders and the type of government they entrusted to us?” All politicians claim to be constitutional, but most of the statements proffered by them seems to be 180 degrees from the founder’s stated intent. The type of government we were given was a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy. Democracy means rule by the majority. Our founders knew how dangerous this form of government was. Democracy is two wolves and a rabbit deciding what’s for dinner. We were to be a nation governed by laws that were to be applied to all citizens equally. We weren’t to be crushed by a majority or a government bureaucracy at the whim of the powerful. How do we protect that beautiful form of government? God needs to be in the midst of it all. John Adams, another founder, said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Late June 2024, two states, Oklahoma and Louisiana, are trying to put the Bible and the Ten Commandments back into the classroom. It isn’t hard to predict this, but those states will be quickly challenged in court by anti-religious groups claiming we are a secular nation. These days they are probably right; we are secular, but it didn’t start that way. I am willing to sign my “John Hancock” to a document stating I’d like it to return to the original.