The 5,000 Year Leap

By John Stallings

I’ve never recommended a book, other than the Bible but I want to tell you about a book I’ve just finished reading called “The 5,000 year leap. A miracle that changed the world.”

I’m indebted to talk show host Glen Beck for making me aware of this book. I’m not a follower of talk radio in the sense that I let it shape my opinions, but I’d be less than honest if I didn’t admit to occasionally listening to conservative talk radio over the years as maybe many of you do, especially while in my car.

I enjoy Rush Limbaugh now & then but I can’t take too much of him at one sitting. I get especially nervous when Rush says, “Talent on loan from God.” But I am grateful for these independent voices in this hour of American history. My attitude toward all radio talkers can best be summed up in the words my mother used to use with a twinkle in her eye when she wanted to stress that a good man isn’t always right; she’d say, “His mouth isn’t exactly a prayer book.”


The 5,000 year leap was written by a man named W.Cleon Skousen in 1981 & has never been out of print. It is currently high on Amazon’s overall sales list & is a book I wish every American would read. I have not only read the book I’ve “drained” it, meaning it’s become a part of me. From the introductory page until the last, I was “hooked.” I’m SO glad I read this book as it’s truly one of the best I’ve ever read!

Interestingly enough, President Ronald Reagan held this book in such high regard, he wanted it to be  taught in our public schools.

The concept of the book is,- the men God used over 230 years ago to establish this great country were able by His grace & 28 tremendous God-given principles, to give mankind the ingredients with which to leap, in a relatively short length of time, 5,000 years ahead of all the progress civilized man had made up to that time.

Mr. Skousen uses extraordinary & unique thought processes to break down into simple conceptual blocks each of these 28 principles step by step from thought to action.

I believe many people will agree with me that America is going through a great season of unrest & stands at this moment on a slippery-slope that could change our destiny & wipe out the progress that good men & women have bled & died for. All of us, especially today’s politicians need a refresher course on what made the USA great & this book will certainly accomplish that for the reader.

 The head of Our Homeland Security recently took the word “Terrorist” out of her department’s lexicon no longer allowing anyone in her department to use the word, while at the same time sending a memo warning about the  “Taxpayer-Tea parties,” using the word terrorist twice & saying outright that any soldier whose fought for this country returning home should be viewed as a potential terrorist.

The deep integrity with which the 5,000 Year Leap is written fuels our rightful pride in our country by re- introducing us to the men who shaped us & what lay in their background & breeding that enabled them to give us the Constitution that catapulted us 5,000 years forward.

I’d like to list these 28 principles but first here are some thoughts from the first part of the book that will set the stage. I will be mostly quoting from the book doing only a little paraphrasing.

“The most surprising thing about Jamestown, the first town established in our fledgling new country was the similarity to the ancients who built settlements 5,000 years earlier & the shocking little progress man had made during all of the last fifty centuries.

Jamestown, established in 1606 was the capitol of the colony from 1616-1698. The settlers of Jamestown had come in a boat no fancier than the boats of the ancient sea kings. Their tools were axe, hoe, & a stick plow which weren’t much better than the ones used in China, Persia & Greece. They wore clothes spun on a wheel, their medicines were concoctions based on superstitions rather than science & their transportation was cart & oxen.

But Jamestown was potentially different because there communal economics were tried by these European immigrants & a system of free enterprise principles began.

It was here where a sufficiently large population finally congregated to permit the setting up of the first legislative assembly in the western hemisphere.

These Virginia settlers were the ones who produced the intellects who would later structure the framework for the new civilization known as the United States. From among them came Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence; James Madison, “father” of the Constitution; George Washington, hero general of the war for Independence; George Mason, author of the first American Bill of Rights in Virginia. Virginia was the largest of the thirteen colonies with half a million inhabitants & she furnished four of the first five Presidents of the United States.”

Mr. Skousen, author of the 5,000 Year Leap has basically one purpose & that is to present the 28 principles used by these founders as simply as possible mostly in their own words because they’re the ones who made the fantastic 5,000 Year leap. If you read the book, I believe you’ll be shocked & amazed at how far our country has strayed from the way our forefathers set it up. Consequently we’ve lost & are in the process of losing many of our freedoms.

The following is a brief overview of the 28 principles found in the 5,000 Year leap. These beliefs have made possible more progress in 200 years than was made previously in over 5,000 years & must be understood & perpetuated by every people who desire peace, prosperity & freedom.

1. The only reliable basis for sound government & just human relations is natural law.

Natural law is God’s law. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe & as Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are “The laws of nature & of nature’s God.”


2. A free people cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain morally strong.

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt & vicious, they have more need of masters.”-Benjamin Franklin.

3. The most promising method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders.

“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty & happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.-Samuel Adams

4. Without religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.

“….And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained with religion.”-George Washington

5. All things were created by God, therefore upon Him mankind are all equally dependant & to Him are equally responsible.

“The American Founding Fathers felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had just simply failed to apply divine capacity for reason & observation.” The Author

6. All mankind were created equal.

“The Founders knew that in three ways all mankind are treated theoretically equal; equal before God, equal before the law, & equal in their rights.” The Author

7. The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal rights.

“People can’t delegate to their government any power except that which they have the lawful right to exercise themselves.”

8. Mankind are endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.

“No human legislation has the power to abridge or destroy each person’s rights unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.”-William Blackstone

9. To protect human rights, God has revealed a code of divine law.

“The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, & they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures.” William Blackstone.

10. The God-given right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.

“The fabric of the American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people.”-Alexander Hamilton

11. The majority of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.

“When a long train of abuses designed to place the people under despotism, it is the people’s right & duty to throw off such a government.” Thomas Jefferson- in the Declaration of Independence.

12. The United States shall be a republic.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America & to the republic for which it stands….”

13. A Constitution should protect the people from the frailties of their leaders.

“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary”….James Madison

14. Life & liberty are secure only so long as the rights of property are secure.

John Locke reasoned that God gave the earth & everything in it to the whole human family as a gift.

15. The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy & a minimum of government regulations.

1. Freedom to try.
2. Freedom to buy.
3. Freedom to sell.
4. Freedom to fail.

16. The government should be separated into three branches.

17. A system of checks & balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the different branches of government.

“It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature & that it ought to be effectively restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.” James Madison

18. The unalienable rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of government are set forth in a written Constitution.

“The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States.”-The Author

19. Only limited & carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others being retained by the people.

20. Efficiency & dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the majority, but the constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of the minority.

“Every man by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority & to be bound by it.”-John Locke

21. Strong local self-government is the keystone to preserving freedom.

“The way to have good & safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many….” Thomas Jefferson

22. A free people should be governed by law & not by the whims of men.

“The end of the law is not to abolish or restrain but to preserve & enlarge freedom.” –John Locke

23. A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of education.

“They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school…..A native American who can’t read & write is as rare…as a comet or an earthquake.”-John Adams

24. A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”-George Washington

25. “Peace, commerce & honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none.”—Thomas Jefferson-in his inaugural address.

26. The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the government should foster & protect its integrity.“There is no country in the world where the ties of marriage are more respected than in America.”—Alexis De Tocqueville

27. The burden of debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest.—Thomas Jefferson

28. The United States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God’s law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race.

The Founders sensed from the very beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was that it didn’t all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it would.

John Adams wrote:

“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence & wonder, as the opening of a grand scene & design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, & the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”

Friends, I’ve given you an outline of the great book the 5,000 Year Leap but I’d encourage you to get your hands on the book if at all possible & read it through. I believe if you do, you will recognize in a new way the bottomless pit into which America is sinking.

The Tea parties are but a cry emanating from the heart of Americans who love their country & instinctively understand the trouble she’s in. They want to see their beloved country survive.

Someone said they had a vision in which they were allowed to walk into the throne room of heaven. They were permitted to walk up to the throne of God & ask God the question, “What if your redemptive plan for man doesn’t work?” God looked at His Son sitting at His right hand & said to the visitor, “Then there is no other plan.” We who’ve read the Bible understand that truth.

Likewise, among the nations of the world, if America stumbles & falls & the damage is serious enough, the last best hope for men & women yearning to breathe free will disappear from the earth.

Let us pray for our country that God will guide us & let us humble ourselves & request of heaven, God Save The Republic!

Blessings,

John