In this week of July 4th I want to share a couple of blog posts I wrote a couple of years ago. This is the first. God bless you this week! One Nation Under God Posted on June 28, 2011 by dale I recently made my first trip ever to Washington DC. I must say it was quite an experience. In fact, I would say that there was something very spiritual about it. I could not help but think about all the history that has centered around that place. Gazing at the White House I thought about the decisions that have been made there. Life and death decisions. When you visit the war memorials you cannot help but reflect upon the lives that have been given for the freedom we so enjoy. Walking through the Holocaust Museum one cannot help but feel the darkness and evil that sinful human beings are capable of. The spiritual nature of the visit for me was most evident in the presidential memorials. We live in a time and culture where many people, national leaders included, would seek to rid the acknowledgment of God from the public square. We hear consistently that the name of Jesus is offensive to people. Our children are taught in school that creation was an accident, a chance series of scientific events. The courts are interpreting the separation of church and state to be something that was never intended by our founding fathers. At the same time we see a decline in morality, an attack upon the institutions of marriage and family and a disregard for the sanctity of the life of the unborn. Now, with that in mind I stood in the memorials and read the quotes of these past presidents. They were astounding. I even commented to my wife Beth about the biting irony of such words so evident in our nation’s capital today while so many are working hard to remove God from public conversation. “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights… (Jefferson) “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” (Jefferson) Lincoln’s second inaugural address is sculptured in his memorial. It is astounding. Lincoln clearly acknowledges the providence of God and beseeches His grace to bring healing to a nation decimated by the civil war. “If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believer in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’” Wow! What would Lincoln think of our current plight? Now, I don’t want to overstate things. Jefferson was a deist. Many of the founding fathers were. They acknowledged a divinity but not necessarily confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior. And yet, one cannot help but see the spiritual foundations on which our country was built. It is imperative that those of us who profess the name of Jesus join together to keep our Father God in the public consciousness and conscience. It is not our government’s job to lift up our Lord. That is the job of the church and individual believers. On the other hand, I’m concerned that a nation that opposes the acknowledgment of our creator God may soon discover the removal of His hand of blessing. Though it was added later, for me the most important words in the pledge of allegiance are “under God.” To Him be the glory!
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 01:47:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015