copyright, 1997-Apocalypse Productions
HISTORY QUIZ-What does the above picture represent?-
(Click pictures for answers.)I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. - Psalms 108:3
HARRY TRUMAN
Harry S. Truman was vice-president under President Franklin Roosevelt. Truman would become our 33rd president when Roosevelt died in 1945. President Truman would conclude his first address to Congress with these words.
"At this moment I have in my heart a prayer. As I have assumed my heavy duties, I humbly pray to Almighty God in the words of King Solomon 'Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?' I ask only to be a good and faithful servant of my Lord and my people."
On January 20, 1949, in his inaugural address, President Truman stated....
"We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God. With God's help the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony, and peace."
President Truman was a praying man. He would often take time alone to commune with God on some of the weightier matters of state. One of his favorite prayers was....
"O Almighty and Everlasting God, Creator of Heaven, Earth, and the Universe, help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right. Make me truthful, honest, and honorable in all things; make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me. Give me the ability to be charitable, forgiving, and patient with my fellow men. Help me to understand their motives and their shortcomings, even as thou understandest mine! Amen."
When asked about what caused America to become so great during the years following two World Wars, he stated his belief that it was because of our legal system and explained thus.
"The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and Saint Matthew, from Isaiah and Saint Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State!"
If only our present legal system could attain to this level of jurisprudence, what a difference we would see in America today! Here again we also see an almost prophetic warning from one of our past Chief Executives. Let us pray that our nation will take this warning, and so many others that we have seen, to heart while there is still time left to turn our nation back to God.
DWIGHT EISENHOWER
Dwight David Eisenhower was the Supreme Commander, Allied Forces, Europe in World War II. He would become America's 34th President. It was President Eisenhower who would signed into law Joint Resolution 243, which added the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. This phrase was taken from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. His reason for supporting this action was, in his own words,
"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."
If only we, as a nation, could reclaim this truth today, it would make for a much brighter tomorrow for us all. It is our desertion of these historical facts that has put us in the sad place where we find ourselves today. President Eisenhower explained our heritage very simply and directly.
"The purpose of a devout and united people was set forth in the pages of the Bible...(1) to live in freedom...(2) to work in a prosperous land... and (3) to obey the commandments of God. This Biblical story of the Promised land inspired the founders of America. It continues to inspire us."
In his inaugural address on January 21, 1957, he stated....
"Before all else, we seek upon our common labor as a nation, the blessings of Almighty God, and the hopes in our hearts fashion the deepest prayers of our whole people."
President Eisenhower was a student of the Bible. He found its counsel comforting during many of the crucial times he faced as our national leader. Addressing this, he once said....
"The spirit of man is more important than mere physical strength, and the spiritual fiber of a nation than its wealth. The Bible is endorsed by the ages. Our civilization is built upon its words. In no other book is there such a collection of inspired wisdom, reality, and hope."
Pray that God would raise up again today, leaders both national and local, who would stand on their faith in God during times of crisis, such as President Dwight Eisenhower did. In this way, with prayers such as this, that we can all do our small part to help turn our nation back to God.
JOHN F. KENNEDY
Probably one of the most popular Americans of this century has been President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Not only was he the youngest American ever elected president, but he was also a graduate of Harvard, a U.S. Congressman and Senator, but also a PT boat commander in World War II. He stated, in his inaugural address on January 20, 1961....
"The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but know that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."
President Kennedy was also very active in the civil rights movement. His reason for this was clear.
"The question for our time is not whether all men are brothers. That question has been answered by God who place us on this earth together. The questions is whether we have the strength and the will to make the brotherhood of man the guiding principle of our daily lives."
It was during the Kennedy Presidency that the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed Bible reading and prayer in public schools, a practice that had been part of American education from the time of the founding fathers. We are still suffering from the effects of this ruling still today. Ever since that time we have been on a long moral slide away from the God of our fathers. It is a well known fact of history that President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, within a year of this fateful decision. What is not so well known is the concluding words of the speech he was about to deliver when he died.
"We in this country, in this generation are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That must always be our goal. For as was written long ago, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'."
Let us pray that we will take these words to heart, and pray for new leaders who will come forth to help us as we endeavor to turn our nation back to God.
RONALD REAGAN
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States. His concern for our country was evident when, in 1980, he said....
"The time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for the healing of America. Our country is in need of and ready for a spiritual renewal."
On October 4, 1982, per request by a joint resolution of Congress, President Reagan declared 1983 the "Year of the Bible". This resolution, Public Law 97-280, stated....
"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a nation 'Year of the Bible' in recognition of both the formative influence the Bible has been for our nation, and our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures."
Being a student of American history, President Reagan had a very clear understanding of the original intent of the founding fathers, when he stated on January 25, 1984....
"America was founded by people who believed that God was their rock of safety. I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it's all right to keep asking if we're on His side."
Concerning the long moral slide of our nation over the past few decades, President Reagan said, after the enactment of the "Equal Access Bill of 1984"....
"In 1962, the Supreme Court in the New York prayer case banned the saying of prayers. In 1963, the Court banned the reading of the Bible in our public schools. From that point on, the courts pushed the meaning of the ruling every outward, so that now our children are not allowed voluntary prayer. We even had to pass a law to allow student prayer groups the same access to school rooms after classes that a Young Marxist Society, for example, would already enjoy with no opposition. The 1962 decision opened the way to a flood of similar suits. Once religion had been made vulnerable, a series of assaults were made in one court after another, on one issue after another. Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience. Without God there is a coarsening of the society. Without God democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone forever."
President Reagan's concern for our nation and it's turning from God ran deep. While he did what he could to stem the tide, with both a liberal, left-leaning Congress and Supreme Court standing against him, his success was limited. In his 1988 National Day of Prayer Proclamation, he expressed these concerns, and what has proven throughout history to be the only remedy for such a situation.
"Let us, young and old, join together, as did the First Continental Congress, in the first step, humble heartfelt prayer. Let us do so for the love of God and His great goodness, in search of His guidance, and the grace of repentance, in seeking His blessings, His peace, and the resting of His kind and holy hands on ourselves, our nation, our friends in the defense of freedom, and all mankind, now and always."
If only the people of this great nation would open their hearts to pleas such as this, found both in our own history and in God's holy word, there is no limit to what would be achieved as we all begin to work together to turn our nation back to God.
GEORGE BUSH
George Bush was the 41st President of the United States of America. On May 3, 1990, he declared a national day of prayer, during which he stated....
"The great faith that led our nation's founding fathers to pursue this bold experience in self-government has sustained us in uncertain and perilous times; it has given us strength and inspiration to this very day. Like them, we do very well to recall our 'firm reliance on the protection of divine providence' to give thanks for the freedom and prosperity this nation enjoys, and to pray for continued help and guidance from our wise and loving Creator."
In 1992, he would declare another national day of prayer, where he proclaimed....
"Whatever our individual religious convictions may be, each of us is invited to join in this national day of prayer. Indeed, although we may find our own words to express it, each of us can echo this timeless prayer of Solomon, the ancient king who prayed for, and received, the gift of wisdom. 'The Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us; so that He may incline our hearts to Him, to walk in all His ways, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other.'."
One of the major events to occur during this presidency was the Persian Gulf War, in response to Iraqi leader Sadam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. This is a notable event as this king believes that he is the reincarnation of King Nebuchanezzar who took the nation Israel into captivity in the 6th century BC. The Middle East, and most notably the nation of Israel is the centerpiece of the end times scenario as given in the Holy Scriptures. Thus, here in the last days, God once again turns the attention of the world to Israel.
THE SECRET OF OUR SUCCESS
"The secret of my success? It is simple. It is found in the Bible, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."
Very wise words indeed, spoken by one of the true geniuses of our century, George Washington Carver in 1939. One thing I always find interesting is the fact that some of the best statements about our heritage comes from some of the most unusual of sources. For instance, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren in Time magazine in February 15, 1954,
"I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the Spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding genius. Whether we look to the first charter of Virginia or to the charter of Massachusetts Bay or to the fundamental orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present, a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it. I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country."
Many of us seem to forget, or never knew, the God of the Bible who made this nation great in its beginning. God also judges those nations who turn from Him, as King David tells us in....
Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; -Psalms 135:10
Nations such as ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome come to mind. More recent examples could include Germany and Japan. America needs to heed these examples lest we follow them.
While many feel the judiciary branch of our government has had much to do with the current situation, not all judges are of the liberal and secular bend. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has recently taken quite a beating by the liberal media for his comments during a recent prayer breakfast he attended. He spoke of the growing scorn of all things Christian by our liberal media and said,
"To be honest about it, that is the view of Christians taken by modern society. Surely those who adhere to all or most of these traditional Christian beliefs are to be regarded as simple-minded. They just will not have anything to do with miracles. They assume that everything from Easter morning to the Ascension had to be made up by the groveling enthusiasts (Christ's disciples) as part of their plan to get themselves martyred."
Justice Scalia hit the nail right on the head as far as the media bias in this country is concerned. Another current Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, spoke the following words on June 10, 1996.
"Remember that good manners will open doors that even the best education will not and cannot. Even though you might have strong feelings about a matter, that does not give you license to have bad manners."
These are words that I feel people on both sides of the aisle in this discussion need to remember. Political correctness or religious zeal is no excuse for bad manners.
WHY HAS GOD BLESSED AMERICA?
He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD. - Psalms 147:20
Other nations did not have God's word, thus they were not held to as high a standard as the client nation of Israel. Today this same thing can be said for America. Look at the evolution issue. What is taught in the public schools is a far cry from what happened, on Christmas Eve in 1968, when Astronaut Frank Borman, commander of Apollo VIII quoted from the book of Genesis, when he spoke the following words which traveled from the moon to the millions on the earth below;
President George Bush, in A Proclamation of a National Day of Prayer, stated on May 3, 1990:
"The great faith that led our Nation's founding fathers to pursue this bold experience in self-government has sustained us in uncertain times; it has given us strength and inspiration to this very day. Like them, we do very well to recall our 'firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence' to give thanks for the freedom and prosperity this Nation enjoys, and to pray for continued help and guidance from our wise and loving Creator."
NATIONAL LEADERS
O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. - Psalms 117:1
A Lutheran church near Valley Forge was pastored by Henry Muhlenberg who noted that,
"From all appearance, General George Washington does not belong to the so-called world of society, for the respects God's word, believes in the atonement through Christ, and bears himself in humility and gentleness. Therefore, the Lord God has also singularly, yea, marvelously, preserved him from harm in the midst of countless perils."
Our history is literally doted with such stories. Take, for instance, this statement by a founding father that many consider not to be a believer in God. Benjamin Franklin proposed Pennsylvania's first day of fasting in 1748 with the following words.
"It is the duty of mankind on all suitable occasions to acknowledge their dependence on the Divine Being, that Almighty God would mercifully interpose and still the rage of war among nations, and that He would take this province under His protection, confound the designs and defeat the attempts of its enemies, and unite our hearts and strengthen our hands in every undertaking that may be for the public good, and for our defence and security in this time of danger."
Many of our earlier leaders also shared the view that it was the Providence of God and not so much the will of man that made our nation what it is today. President John Adams recorded in his diary in February of 1765 the following words.
"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."
It would be many years after this that slavery would finally be destroyed in America but that day did finally come. I just wish that we, as a people, could turn back to God once again. Although they are few and far between, there are still some national leaders today who still realize this. One of them was President Ronald Reagan. His comments on the founding of our nation follows.
"Our founders came in search of religious freedom. Landing on a desolate shoreline, they established a spiritual foundation that has served us ever since. It was the hard work of our people, the freedom they enjoyed and their faith in God that built this country and made it the envy of the world. In all of our great cities and town, evidence of the faith of our people is found: houses of worship of every denomination are among the oldest structures."
President Reagan also had the number of those historical revisionists and others who are trying to silence the truth of our nation's godly heritage.
"The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance, freedom, and open-mindedness. Question: Isn't the real truth that they are intolerant of religion? They refuse to tolerate its importance in our lives."
While our nation has been in the throes of a long moral decay, we have still had leaders recently who were not afraid to speak out on the faith of our founding fathers. In 1974, Gerald Ford said,
"Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first - the most basic - expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God's help, it will continue to be."
Another twentieth century chief executive who was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ was Jimmy Carter. His humility was something that I wish many of our leaders and citizens could do well to use more of, myself included. The following words of his strike a cord with me.
"I was a Sunday school teacher and a deacon, and I professed to be quite concerned about my religious duties. But when asked the question, whether there was enough evidence to convict me of being a Christian, I finally decided that if arrested, I could probably talk my way out of it! It was a sobering thought."
It is a simple matter to go to the writings of history to see what our nation was based upon. For instance, Bruce Barton an American business executive who lived from 1886 to 1967 shared his faith in this way.
"Voltaire spoke of the Bible as a short-lived book. He said that within a hundred years it would pass from common use. Not many people read Voltaire today, but his house has been packed with Bibles as a depot of a Bible society. The Bible rose to the place it now occupies because it deserved to rise to that place, and not because God sent anybody with a box of tricks to prove its divine authority."
Another one of our godly leaders from the past, President James Monroe, understood our history much better than many of us today.
"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
We have lost this simple truth in today's modern culture. Such proclamations are deemed uncultured and, to some, downright dangerous. This is one of the sadder signs of our times. Let us pray that our nation will turn back to God.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
There is often a vast difference between what Jesus said about Christianity and what the clergy often have to say on the behalf of religion. In fact, there is a vast difference between what religious leaders say, and what most believers believe according to a fascinating article about prayer entitled "Is God Listening?" which appears in the March 31, 1997 issue of Newsweek. A poll they took gave some very interesting results.
"82% say they ask for health or success for a child or family member when they pray; 75% ask for strength to overcome personal weakness; 87% say that God answers prayers; 51% think God doesn't answer prayers to win sporting events; 36% never pray for financial or career success; 29% say they pray to God more than once a day; 82% say they believe that God does not play favorites in answering prayers; 79% say God answers prayers for healing someone with an incurable disease; 73% think prayers for help in finding a job are answered; 54% say that when God doesn't answer their prayers, it means it wasn't God's will to answer; and 82% don't turn away from God when prayers go unanswered."
This does much to restore one's faith in our country, especially when you consider that Newsweek can be called anything except a Christian publication. When I saw this in the news rack, I bought a copy immediately. This is the first time in years I have bought one of these publications, but it goes a long way to show how the current climate in our nation is actually working to bring many people closer to God, while the media and religious leaders continue to drift farther from God, and the historical revisionists continue to endeavor to write the Living God out of our history books.
NATION AT THE CROSSROADS
It is indeed good to know that, in our country, l have freedom of speech, unlike many nations under the control of Mystery Babylon's church-state systems. I am afraid that there you and I would be in deep trouble, if still alive at all. Former Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey made some interesting statements concerning this problem when speaking recently at the 50th anniversary of the Christian Life Commission.
"Twenty-four years ago, abortion was sold to America as a social cure or resolution. Instead, it has left us wounded and divided."
He echoed the concerns of many Christians on this matter when he stated that....
"It tears at our soul. The issue is about not how comfortable we will live, but how we will live with our conscience. But beyond that, it tells us who we are. Our generation alone has made abortion a social good; has dared to call the victim a thing, the act a service, the perpetrator a provider, a health-care provider. My party is off the charts. What about the Republican Party? What good is a 15% tax cut or a capital gains tax cut or a balanced budget or a college tuition credit to a nameless, faceless, powerless child who never had a chance to be born? If we can't protect life, what's left?"
I feel that in this speech, he has done a wonderful job of putting his finger on one of the basic problems in our culture. Judgment hangs heavy over our nation.
WILL WE TURN BACK IN TIME?
There are many people out there today who are concerned about how our nation has turned away from God in the past few decades. President R. Albert Mohler brings these points out very strikingly in a recent speech when he said,
"Christians must recover our own moral authority, which can only come when we are submitted to our Savior's moral authority. The church must be a culture of life, contending for life at every level, in the womb, in the nursing home, in the hospital ward, on the streets, in the schools, everywhere. Our mode must not be to turn entirely inward but instead to engage the culture in such a way that we bear open witness to life, even calling for the life of the culture."
Mohler is right. We face desperate times. Our culture has been on a long, downward slide for many years now, and there is no letup in sight. Where will it all end? There are two paths set before us. One leads to revival and recovery. The other to wreck and ruin. The choice is ours.
CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION
One of the things that has been of great concern to many believers is how Christian are currently being persecuted in other countries, where these Mystery Babylon systems hold sway. Nina Shea, director of the Puebla Program on Religious Freedom, recently addressed this selfsame issue.
"It is shocking that so few Americans know about the worldwide global persecution of Christians. Our government is indifferent, even hostile, to the plight of these persecuted Christians. When I talk about persecution, I'm not talking about discrimination or bigotry. I'm talking about torture, enslavement, rape, and murder. Our leaders and the media elite are captured by the image of the young man in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square. They see him as a democracy hero, yet they think that the evangelicals who will lay down their lives in China or Sudan for Jesus Christ must be crazy."
A horrifying fact that is revealed by a World Evangelism Council Report just last year is that nearly 1,000 Christian believers a day are being killed around the world. This martyrdom is unparalleled in the history of the church. Meanwhile, our leaders take political contributions from the government of China where, according to Shea, thousands of Christians languish in gulags.
The ultra-liberal American media elite have been very careful to avoid mention of the religious persecution against Christians in the world today. By using them as your only source of news information, it is no wonder you don't know what is going on in this area. In fact, this like many other things, are simply the fulfillment of Bible prophecy concerning the last days. One example of this is....
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. - Revelation 6:9-11
Baroness Caroline Cox, president of the British branch of the Swiss-based human rights organization, Christian Solidarity International, and deputy speaker of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, maintains that the West tends to remain largely unaware of the magnitude of persecution and strangely silent on the issue. I watched a news special some time back, not on the major networks needless to say, that went into great details about the very situation that is mentioned here. The latest count of those who have died for their Christian faith in the Sudan is now over 1,500,000. In fact, the situation worldwide has become so serious, that the United States Senate is currently looking at ways to alleviate this tragedy. One fact that was brought out in this special is that more Christians have been martyred for their faith in the century than in all 19 centuries previous from the beginning of the Christian church.
There are some books that document this historically that might be of interest to you and others. "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" and "The Trail of Blood" are two that cover this down through the centuries. There are also two books that have recently been written that gives the details of this in the current century; "Their Blood Cries Out", and "In The Lion's Den". These two books are available from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, 901 Commerce Street, Nashville TN 37234. It is my prayer that the church in America will wake up and aid our persecuted brothers and sisters overseas.
CHURCH STATE OR CHRISTIAN NATION?
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. - Revelation 18:4-5
This gives us the basic difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans. They were both originally part of the Church of England. The Pilgrims left England and endeavored to develop a Bible Commonwealth in America. Thus the name Pilgrims. Put another way, they planned to return to the principles of the Bible and desert the traditions of men. On this one major point they differed radically from the Puritans.
The Puritans also lived up to their name. It was their plan to purify the Church of England. Thus they brought the Mystery Babylon church-state system with them to America. Remember John's warning was to come out of her, not to try to purify her. For this reason you see the Puritans falling into the same trap that the Catholics and other major denominations fell into. Using the state to enforce religious principles. This type of sentiment is very different from what I am trying to explain here. Take for instance, what one of our presidents said just a few decades ago.
On January 20, 1961, the youngest president in American history gave his inaugural address. John F. Kennedy revealed his vision for our nation when he said,
"The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it, and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own."
This is why I continue to pray for the time when our nation and its leaders will turn back to the God of the Bible.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. - Isaiah 2:4
While we are far from being a Christian nation today, many in our history feel it did not start out that way. American patriot Patrick Henry gave the reason for his patriotism very simply.
"Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience. It is the duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other."
On March 23, 1775, in the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, Virginia, Patrick Henry made his famous speech which ended with these words. "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
On January 30, 1835 President Andrew Jackson was nearly assassinated on the steps of the Capitol. A man fired two pistols at him at point-blank range, but while the percussion caps went off, they failed to discharge the bullets. Later, the pistols were tested and found to be in perfect firing order. When the King of England expressed concern over the incident, the President replied,
"A kind Providence had been pleased to shield me against the recent attempt upon my life, and irresistibly carried many minds to the belief in a superintending Providence."
In 1845, in his inaugural address, newly elected president James K. Polk was very clear concerning his belief in the divine Providence of God, the father of Jesus Christ.
"I enter upon the discharge of the high duties which have been assigned to me by the people, again humbly supplicating that Divine Being, who has watched over and protected our beloved country from its infancy to the present hour, to continue His gracious benedictions upon us, that we may continue to be prosperous and happy people."
So, as you can clearly see here, those who took part in the forming of this nation had a very different view of things than you do. In fact, it is the view of historical revisionists who have tried to write God out of our history books who have put our nation at risk today.
COOLIDGE, CARVER, AND WARREN
While we all must admit that we do not currently have a Christian nation, I still feel that this was the goal of our founding fathers. It is too evident in their writings for it not to be so. Many Americans down throughout our nation's history have also come to the same conclusion. For instance, on August 3, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office. He stated,
"The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."
His statement here is almost prophetic. We have indeed, as a people, turned from the teachings of the Bible and will continue to see the decline of our society until we return to those selfsame beliefs. Finally I wish to mention Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Earl Warren in 1954,
"I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the Spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding genius. Whether we look to the first charter of Virginia or to the charter of New England or to the charter of Massachusetts Bay or to the fundamental orders of Connecticut, the same objective is present, a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it. I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country."
Amen to that. Today we are seeing firsthand exactly what does happen when we, as a nation, ceases to believe in the God of the Holy Scriptures. When prayer was replaced with a total rejection of God, and Bible distribution gave way to condom distribution, our nation began down a path that can only lead to destruction. Most Americans have believed, from the time of the founding fathers until now, that our nation is based on religious freedom, not secular humanism. The Christian Life Commission put it well in a recent legal brief which they filed in "Lee vs. Weisman" which states....
"One of the values which public schools should transmit is respect and tolerance for the religious choice of others. Pluralism is promoted by exposing children and adults to differing religious beliefs in a respectful, accommodating way. This builds understanding and respect. Just as racial harmony cannot grow in the soil of racial segregation, neither can religious harmony spring up in a system of religious apartheid."
Religious Apartheid! I think I have finally run across a term that best fits the conditions in our nation today. Let us pray against the forces of religious apartheid, and for a restoration of the Christian foundations upon which our nation was built. The troubles we face as a nation today are in no way unique. Rather, they have continued, in one way or another, since God saw fit to put us here.
THE WAR FOR MEN'S SOULS
Many today say we are involved in a cultural war, if not as bloody, at least as intense as the one which gave birth to America. I feel that one of the messages shared during that time could well be given to us today, as the body of Christ tries to help bring our nation back to the Christian beginnings that made it great to begin with. After the port in Boston was closed by British troops in 1774, William Prescott wrote to the citizens of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
"We heartily sympathize with you, and are always ready to do all in our power for your support, comfort, and relief knowing that Providence has placed you where you must stand the first shock. We consider that we are all embarked in the same boat and must sink or swim together. Let us all be of one heart, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And may He, of His infinite mercy, grant us deliverance out of all our troubles."
The government that we currently live under was formed with the knowledge that man was wicked by nature. As President George Washington explained in his farewell address:
"A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us to the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power by dividing and distributing it into different depositories has been established."
Many of the major problems we face today as a nation comes from the erosion of this precious three-way balance, as the judiciary has gotten into the business of law-making. Since 1962 our nation has been cursed with more and more radical, ungodly laws made, not by the people or the legislature, but by the arbitrary decisions of judges who seem to feel they do not have to answer to anyone for the decisions they make. Indeed we are living in days like those described in the book of Judges in the Holy Scriptures when they too suffered under the hands of unjust judges because....
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. – Judges 21:25
It is indeed heartbreaking to see how our public institutions, especially our schools, have made it known that God and the Bible are not welcome there, while humanism and historical revisionism are. Why are we surprised when children are so spiritually confused when we have refused to give them the direction that they so desperately need. This would not have been possible without courts losing touch with the founding principles that have made our nation great. It is up to us to turn our nation from the path of destruction down which we are currently descending. God's promise is clear in this matter.
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