Calling the Black Robes
A letter to the Church Leaders of TennesseeLeaders of men,
In the spring of 1775 the British were planning on confiscating the arms stored in Lexington, Massachusetts. Samuel Adams and Paul Revere rode out and asked Reverend Jonas Clarke if the people of Lexington would fight. His answer came with the stalwart conviction that comes from one whose wisdom is prepared for the road ahead, with certitude Clarke replied:
“I have trained them for this very hour,
THEY WILL FIGHT”
The Minute Men and Militias of the American Revolution were often congregations. Known by the British as the Black Robed Regiment, they were sovereign Christian Soldiers inspired by their God-given liberty that was paid for by blood. For if testimony is the spirit of prophecy, the story of the greatest sacrifice of all should cause the hearts and souls of men to well up and carry forward that blessing, for if there is a time and a place for everything under the sun, if we have been given all authority in the heavens and on the earth, if we are seated at his table, if we have been given his spirit, if we are commanded to do greater things, if we are his hands and feet, who will go if we do not?
We the people are thee lovers of peace. It is only by our might that goodness wins. We only get to fight by word and ballot when those who would prefer to fight by bullet and blood know they would brutally lose such a contest.
While reading sermons from Jonas and the other Reverends in the Black Robed Regiment, there is a common theme: We are incapable of being in a right relationship with God while living under tyranny. It is for the sake of freedom that we have been set free. Outside of personal liberty, one cannot obey God, for the voice of God speaks by, with, and from radical, dangerous, and wild freedom.
As Jefferson and Franklin often said, Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
The crown viewed these clergymen as key agitators, being a major driving force behind colonial resistance and the fight for their independence. In our day, Christian men will save this nation yet again. There isn’t another way. No, you are not hearing me… this is the only way. Without those who say yes to the spiritual lineage of David and his Mighty Men, there is only darkness. Without Christian men embracing the depth and fullness of The Great I AM, there is only slavery. Without Christian’s moving away from the feminized servitude of the world, there will only be new depths of bondage.
Be on your guard, Eve is still handing you the same apple of obedience to another, a snake, a liar. MEN! Be like your God who anointed you with oil, invites you to his table, invigorates you with his spirit, blesses you with his authority, created you in his image, and declared you would do greater things.
Why do you think the voice saying, “Who will go for Us?” comes to the lowly household and not the temple?
Why do you think the voice called out from the desert and not the synagogue?
This same voice calls out in our time: “WHOM SHALL I SEND?” The answer should be bursting out of you with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength:
“Here am I, send me.”
At Bunker Hill, the strong conviction of the congregations of New England was so holy, so set apart, they weathered three bayonet charges from the greatest army on earth. The Red Coats would never forget the courage and ferocity of these Christian Soldiers. The memory of their holy vengeance would cause the British to blunder in several key moments throughout the war. You are those men's lineage! You are the glory of their testimony.
For others, like those who longed for Egypt, they do not know the times they are living within. Like in their day, it is our time to escape the bondage of the unjust rulers who hate God. They deny that there is still a Lion in the tribe of Judah, that there is still a strong right arm, that Warrior is still His name, that there are still Armies of Angels and Mighty Men of favor.
I ask you: What Great Man of God didn’t upset those with authority around them?
In our day, every freedom-loving American can fill a night with conversation about the countless ways our government has violated their oaths of office and usurped their power. Here are a few grievous examples.
Without the consent of the governed, your public servants:
Welcomed a 3rd world invasion with purposefully open borders.
Judges repeatedly release violent criminals back into our communities.
Knowingly lied about COVID and then mandated their experimental solution.
For God’s sake, 80% of women in their first trimester miscarried, AND THEY KNEW IT. This is Murder.
Coordinated 1st Amendment violations with tech companies.
During COVID, the bravest Church leaders kept the doors open. We celebrated them like they were great men of renown. This most basic level of resistance should have been unanimous and automatic. Churches should have led the charge to arrest and try those who committed crimes against humanity and conspiracies against our inalienable rights. Churches in Texas should be patrolling the border. If your city has high areas of crime, your church should patrol those streets. Those who do evil in your communities should GREATLY FEAR the local Church. Not in some ethereal way, but in a very real and practical way.
But we are a virtuous people who love peace and are patient with our fellow countrymen. We have borne many injustices and weathered many persecutions. Through it all, we have held these evildoers at bay by their fear that if they go too far, we will rise up in revolt. It is the ruling elite’s fear of the American people that has blocked the road to serfdom that so many other nations have slid down.
In times of fundamental disagreement, in times of great conflict, what keeps us on the path of peace?
What Madison said is still true:
“The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition... The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed.”
Church: It is time to reestablish the traditions of the Black Robe Regiment, the Lexington Minutemen, and the Green Mountain Boys.
It is time for the church communities of this 16th state of our Union to support the training and readiness of the good men of Tennessee and form Black Robe Regiments anew.
We must get back to the core of who we are as Americans. As the great Tennessean Davy Crockett said:
"To my mind, the great trouble is that people have gotten away from the true principles of self-defense, and citizens are not armed enough to protect themselves and their property."
Are we not our father’s sons?
It is the duty of each new generation of Americans to keep sharp that which so many gave their one noble life to secure. If we believe: “blessed are the peacemakers,” then blessed are those who do the hard work it takes to be so blessed, and woe to those who, in foolish apathy and soft surrender, abandon what it takes to realize this blessing.
I am asking the church leaders of Tennessee to form Congregational Militias and champion their training and organization. There can be no greater legacy than to reestablish the principal reason which gave this earth a new birth of freedom, for it wasn’t fancy writing or loud declarations that got the job done; it was Christian men with the skills of war. It was good men who knew violence well. If we are to be the home of the brave, we had best be good at it; we had better be diligent and trained. Ineffectual bravery is no use to anyone. Mighty Bravery is the hope of nations. Always has been, ever will be.
For, without mighty men, Solomon never makes it to the throne. Without mighty men, the wicked take power from wise and just rulers. When good men are weak, evil men fill that void with a corruption that eventually leads to tyranny. Where good men steward the ability to be dangerous, every good thing under the sun exponentially changes the world.
I ask you all: Who can do anything for the “least of these” without the ability to stand up to the brutes abusing them?
Has the world seen its last tyrant? Whether in ten, twenty, fifty, or hundreds of years, when tyranny comes again, whether foreign or domestic, we will only find reprieve where the ability of good men to respond has been diligently maintained. If good men are found to be weak, what then? If we do not possess the ability to resist, who then stands up? Who then stands ready? Do we then plunge into a second dark age where there are rulers and subjects? Must we again await the spark that is the spirit of man willing to do anything to be free? Must we wait in chains and bear the great cost of lives and progress when we have already thus far so nobly advanced? How dare we so frivolously invest the spent blood of the brave men before us.
Again, it is the duty of each new generation of Americans to keep sharp that which so many gave their one noble life to secure. This crescendo of liberty, ignited by tea in a harbor, must have our continued dedication to carry it forward, not by slowly surrendering to bureaucrats, but through our increased devotion to the training and readiness it takes to stay free.
We are no friends of our forefathers if we do not put action behind what the founders so clearly stated was “necessary to the security of a free State.” We are no friend of heaven if we remove the fullness of who God is from the Church, is he not a warrior? Are we not men of his image? Do the sons not carry the mantle of their father?
All enemies, foreign and domestic, fear an armed citizenry. There is no greater gift we can give the next generation than to build upon our cherished inheritance and shared duty to this highest of virtues, to be found faithful and ready with a lamp lit, ready to preserve our great natural and spiritual heritage.
Too many of those who call themselves leaders are ashamed of our own Declaration of Independence, which was written and defended by not just United States, but United Congregations, who set aside their many and vehement theological disagreements to be a lightning rod of heavenly justice and divine purpose. Are we not aligned with our founding and committed to its principles? Here in the Volunteer State… yes… yes, we are. We uphold and acknowledge that these same ageless and inalienable truths are just as self-evident now as they were in 1776.
If we believe: “blessed are the peacemakers,” then blessed are those who do the hard work it takes to be so blessed, and woe to those who, in foolish apathy and soft surrender, abandon what it takes to realize this blessing.
If there is a time and a place for men to overthrow tyranny, then the time and the place to make ready is ever before us. It is the most American thing there will ever be. Remember, when the British taxed us, we threw tea and wrote letters; when they marched to take our guns, we shot them.
Evil only speaks one language: FEAR.
But whose job is it to ensure that evil lives in fear of goodness? The Sovereign King? Standing Armies? It is the right and duty of the American people. As Samuel Adams said after signing the Declaration, "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom alone all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in Heaven, and with a propitious eye beholds his subjects assuming that freedom of thought, and dignity of self-direction which He bestowed on them. From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come." Above all else, it is the people's responsibility. It is our sovereign duty, and it is the Church, which forms the strongest bonds of comunity who, as in the days of our founding, must rise as thee bulwark against tyranny.
Again, if there is a time and a place for good men to overthrow a tyrant, then the time to prepare is now and always. If this Union lasts a thousand years before such events befall our nation, that generation will greatly bless all those who did what it took to keep this right and duty ready and effective.
We all hear this call from two perspectives, one from fear, one from faith. Our fear of men is worship to another, and as in the parable of the talents, such inaction isn’t coddled, comforted, or pardoned; it is treated as it truly is: wickedness. But you are not wicked, you are good. It is who you have always been and ever wanted to be. What are you waiting for?
We will win the WAR we find ourselves in by WORD and not BLOOD, because Christian Men will answer the call, for:
We are our father’s sons.
Let us honor them as they deserve, by being well-trained, good, and dangerous men.
Peace is found where Mighty Men Make Ready.
The Church must lead.
Sincerely,
Samuel S. Adams
Hold Tension, Be Vast.Remember, restoration alone brings victory.