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A recently released book, DISCIPLING THE NATIONS -- the Government Upon His Shoulders, challenges the widely held Evangelical view that the United States Constitution is a Christian document. Other popular American icons, such as George Washington and James Madison, are likewise taken down from their pedestals and shown to be something less than political demigods.

This book challenges popular Christian authors such as Peter Marshall, David Barton (WallBuilders), D.J. Kennedy, John Eidsmoe and others in their seeming "party-line" defense of the Federalist position of Washington, Madison and other convention delegates. Anti-Federalist objections to the U.S. Constitution raised by strong Christians of the founding era such as Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams are revisited. In the process, the book makes a compelling case that America's problems stem not primarily from her departure from the Constitution, but rather from seeds of humanism buried deep within the Constitution itself.

Written in a popular style, Discipling the Nations -- the Government Upon His Shoulder is not just another evangelical rehash of the "Christian America" thesis. Those books are a dime a dozen. Rather it is a "beneath the rhetoric" biblical analysis of the world view of America's key founders and the Constitution they produced. The conclusions are guaranteed to startle (if not shock) amateur historians and gullible Christians.

This challenge arises not from liberal academia, but rather from within the ranks of orthodoxy itself. Author Dennis Woods, a political pollster with credentials in journalism, education and theology, poses a question that can no longer be casually brushed aside by evangelicals Why are documented historical facts routinely being revised and distorted ... by evangelical Christians? This fundamental question leads to a host of other questions that are in turn addressed by the book. For example....

• If George Washington was a Christian why did he refuse to take Communion? (p. 31)
• If the U.S. Constitution is a Christian document why does it contain no substantive references to God? (p. 19).
• Why do the Federalist Papers contain no references to the Bible and almost 30 references to the governments of pagan Greece and Rome (p. 13).
• Why does the U.S. Constitution deny a religious test for public office, when almost all of its colonial forerunners required such a test? (p. 27)
• What is the critical difference between government by social compact and government by Biblical covenant? Which one is the U.S. Constitution? Does it matter? (p. 134)
• Why were the state legislatures excluded from a part in confirming the U.S. Constitution, as required by the Articles of Confederation? (p. 33)
• Why did strong Christian statesmen such as Patrick Henry, John Hancock and Samuel Adams explicitly refuse the invitation to attend the Constitutional Convention? (p. 32)
• Why was the convention shrouded in secrecy, with all notes sequestered until after the death of the last delegate? (p. 33)
• Why does the Constitution rely on "we the people" to "ordain and establish this Constitution" rather than God, as did nearly every one of its predecessors? (p. 21)
• Why did James Madison believe that Christianity was a source of faction rather than the unifying factor in civil government? (p. 24)

The author believes that the naïve or simplistic responses typically offered by Evangelicals like John Eidsmoe, David Barton (WallBuilders), Peter Marshall, and D.J. Kennedy damage the credibility of the very cause they are trying to defend. They seem to feel the Constitution must be defended as a Christian document at all costs, to serve as a firebreak against the conflagration of moral/cultural disintegration. Ironically, they end up defending the root cause of the very evil they are trying to eradicate. "We need to take what is good from the Constitution," says Woods, "admit the problems, and then move forward to correct them." After reading this book a state legislator and longtime seminar instructor on America's Christian history had this observation:

Consequently, the book goes far beyond a mere critique of the U.S. Constitution to an in-depth exploration of what the Bible says about the foundation, the form, and the function of civil government. It offers a detailed, Biblical blueprint for remodeling a collapsing governmental superstructure, showing why every standard for political righteousness -- traditional values, conservatism, natural law, etc. -- all fall short of the Biblical standard.

Specifically, Discipling the Nations applies the Bible's Principles of War to politics and traces the simple steps required to gain and keep control of a legislative assembly (Chap. 10 & 11). The book explains why the initiative petition is best described as political fool's gold (p. 140-146). It shows how to make criminal justice quick, effective and cheap and how to reduce welfare costs by 95% without hurting the poor (Chap. 9).

Review questions help the reader fully integrate the material and make it ideal for adult study groups, home school, Christian school or Bible study classes. Published by Legacy Communications, Discipling the Nations may be ordered by calling 1-503-658-1755.

All in all, this book provides a refreshing and long-overdue counterweight to the endless procession of "Christian Constitution" releases that have dominated the Christian book market for the past 20 years. It exposes the dangers of the Federalist view articulated by John Eidsmoe, David Barton (WallBuilders), Peter Marshall, and D.J. Kennedy, as originally set forth by Patrick Henry and the anti-Federalists. It advances the thesis that the Great Commission extends beyond the individual soul, even to the submission of the nations as political entities to the Lordship of Christ (Ps 2).