God, Our Founding Father

 “We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights…”

The Declaration of Independence

 

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

 The First Amendment of the US Constitution

Today, the 232nd anniversary of our Nation’s founding, I thank the Lord for the freedoms we have, and earnestly pray as I witness their erosion.  Our country is tiptoeing on the edge of destruction, because it has forgotten God.  It’s popular to ridicule and malign Christianity, in a country where all other beliefs and cultures are protected.  Jesus Christ has become “a byword” i.e., a common curse word.  Prayer has become a ‘moment of silence’, and God is whoever we want Him (or Her) to be–or not to be. 

Over the years, orators, philosophers, founders, and presidents have not been silent about Who is the source of our freedoms, and their concern of abandoning Him.  Here’s food for thought and prayer as we celebrate the undeserved grace of God towards America, the food on our tables, the ‘waves of grain’, the shining seas, and what freedoms remain.

“And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend?  Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?  I have lived…a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth–that God Governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.’  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concuring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”   Benjamin Franklin, 1787, addressed to those at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

“All attempts to find a way out of the plight of today’s world are fruitless unless we redirect our consciousness, in repentance, to the Creator of all: without this, no exit will be illumined, and we shall seek it in vain.”  Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Templeton Address, 1983

“As unpopular as it is to say, biblical values–thoroughly ingrained in our Founding Fathers and unmistakably incorporated into our founding documents–are what has made these United States of America utterly unique in history…..Our culture–including our unparalleled tradition of freedom–has declined and will continue to decline in direct proportion to our rejection of biblical values.  Of course, Christians want no part of established [state-run] religions, but neither do we want, no can we afford, the excommunication of our founding values from the public square or our culture.”  David Limbaugh, “Purging Christianity from our Culture,” Worldnetdaily.com,  July 2, 2002

“When men stop believing in God, the danger is not that they will believe nothing.  The danger is that they will believe anything.”  G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: The Romance of Faith

God’s Word also reflects this perspective:

“Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales: Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.  Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

“All the nations are as nothing before Him, They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless…

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

“It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

“He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble.

“‘To whom then will you liken Me, that I should be equal?’ says the Holy One.”  Isaiah 40:15-26 (portions)

“There is none like you, O Lord, You are great, and great is Your name in might.  Who would not fear You, O king of the nations?  Indeed it is Your due!  For among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You!”  Jeremiah 10:6,7

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Prov. 14:34

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..”  Prov 1:7

As Solzhenitsyn and Ben Franklin said, we must not forget our Creator.  Even though we are soujourners and pilgrims in this world, looking for a better country, a heavenly one, let’s not neglect to pray that our freedoms will endure; the freedom to speak, to gather to worship, and to live for and share the message of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection to this generation, and those to come.  May we give God His true place in our hearts and pray for continued blessings on America.

“Unless the Lord builds the house; they labour in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” 

Psalm 127:1