American Revolution

Preach On! – The Black Robed Regiment and the American Revolution

/ Bob / Leave a comment

The Black Regiment was a derogatory term used by the Loyalists and British officials to refer to pastors who used their pulpits to provide the theological justification and moral authority for the American Revolution; to instill in their congregants an understanding of and a desire for true liberty; and to help them see their cause as a sacred duty.

These ministers of the gospel became more feared than the military might of the colonists. Reflecting on the effectiveness of colonial preachers during the siege of Boston, Peter Oliver, the last royal Chief Justice of Massachusetts, bitterly compared those preachers in their black robes to the actual British military forces: “But as little as the red Regiments performed, the black Regiment played its Artillery to some purpose; and The Pulpit – Drum Eccliastick – Was beat with Fist instead of a Stick.”

The Black Robed Regiment, as they came to be known later, preached sermons which would later be echoed in our founding documents through phrases like “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” and “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility” and “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” They emboldened their congregants to stand for the truth and, if necessary, fight for the truth. They were a formidable adversary indeed and their contributions live on.

We have a secular form of government – of the people, by the people, and for the people – but the people who founded this nation did so not in a moral vacuum, but in the morality and justice and truth they learned growing up in an Ecclesiocentric, and at times a Theocentric, world. They were taught the Word of God by their ancestors; inspired to know God’s justice and grace through the preachers of the Great Awakening; and they were inspired by Godly men like the Black Robed Regiment who gave them Godly wisdom and strength to stand up against tyranny and fight for true liberty and true freedom. So while our form of government is secular, the foundation on which it stands is sacred.

May we never forget from whence we came. May we never forget that God’s sovereignty brought this nation into existence. And may we never forget that the sovereign God who brought us into existence as a nation can remove us just as easily.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 28, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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Class Notes – Preach On – 06.28.2026Download

The Great Awakening

/ Bob

The Great Awakening was a revival that swept through the American colonies roughly from the 1730’s through the 1760’s. While it brought thousands of new souls into the Kingdom of God, it also altered the religious, social, and political landscape of Colonial America.

At its core, the movement shifted the focus of faith away from rigid church doctrine, formal rituals, and intellectualism, placing it instead on personal submission to the Sovereign God and a felt experience of salvation, often referred to as being “born again”.

Driven by orators like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield,

the Awakening preaching emphasized individual sinfulness and

the necessity of personal repentance leading to conversion.

By breaking down traditional denominational barriers and challenging the authority of established clergy, the Great Awakening fostered a unique sense of shared inter-colonial identity and a democratic spirit. It taught ordinary individuals that they had the spiritual authority to make their own religious choices—an egalitarian mindset that helped pave the philosophical way for the American Revolution.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, June 14, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


Website – FromTheBackPorch.org
Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas

YouTube – youtube.com/@fromthebackporch

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Email – fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com

Class Notes – The Great Awakening – 06.14.2026Download

The Slow Fade of Faith

/ Bob

The Puritans, and especially the separatist Pilgrims, came to the New World to establish a home where they could fully live out their faith in God. Through struggles of every sort they did just that. Alas, their children – the next generation – did not share in their zeal for Holiness. Thus began a slow fade of faith that would lead the colonies into a period of materialism and moral decay.

It’s not unlike our culture today. We face threats to our very existence as the Pilgrims did – remember September 11, 2001? The Pilgrims bound themselves together in a bond of shared faith in God. So did we. But as time passed and the threat faded, so did our commitment to the God Who brought us through that time.

There are many similarities to the moral decadence of late 17th and early 18th Centuries and our 21st Century moral depravity. It was a very self-centered environment much like our own and the leaders of the church spoke out about the sins being committed, and then turned around and offered what today could be called a watered-down faith – a cheap grace if you will. If ever there was a time ripe for a revival of God’s people it was in the early 1700’s. If ever there was a time ripe for a revival of God’s people it IS in the early 2000’s.

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, May 24, 2026. It is part of a series called From Reverence to Revival to Revolution: The Influence of Christianity and the Great Awakening on the Founding of The United States of America. Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com .

Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


Website – FromTheBackPorch.org
Facebook – From the Back Porch in Texas

YouTube – youtube.com/@fromthebackporch

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