The Blessed Nation

 

Psalm 33:12

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance,” Psalm 33:12.

In 2008, I had my first opportunity to stand in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia and see the Liberty Bell. It really is not anything that special, it is just an old brass bell with a big crack in it. It is not a lot different than the old bell we used to ring at church camp back when I was a kid.

The Liberty Bell has significance because of what it represents. It was used to mark the signing and first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. This was the document that proclaimed America’s independence as a sovereign nation.

What struck me about the bell was the Scripture engraved around its crest. It’s a portion of Leviticus 25:10 and it states, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” For a nation that was founded on the guiding principle of freedom, these were pretty fitting words! It was also refreshing to see that God’s Word marked the symbol that represented our nation’s founding.

In today’s passage we see that it states, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” Sure, we know that in the context of this verse that nation that is spoken of and referred to as “the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” is Israel. But the message of blessing to the nation who recognizes the true God as Lord is the same.

I want to be a part of a blessed nation because a blessed nation is a blessed people. Pray for our country. Pray that people will come to Jesus for salvation and return to the Lord for guidance.

 

JUST ASKING

Will you take a moment and pray for our nation?

Nathan Rogers

Freedom OF Religion, Not Freedom FROM Religion

BY ALAN CARUBA

The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution do not abandon religion, they embrace it. They do not, however, require that Americans believe in God, nor punish them for failing to do so.

Central to the liberties enshrined in these documents is the belief that they come from a higher power and America exists because of that belief. Without it there would have been no America. There are those among us who insist that, as a nation, we abandon faith in God and, if we do, America will cease to be a power for good in the world.

When Thomas Jefferson presented the Declaration to those who would pledge their lives and their sacred honor to achieve independence from England John Adams asked that it include the words “They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” after the phrase “all men are created equal” and Benjamin Franklin agreed, suggesting that “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence” be added as well.” In their 2004 book, “Under God” by Toby Mac and Michael Tait, said “The changes demonstrated Congress’s strong reliance upon God—as delegates added the words “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions.”

Aware of the dangers inherent in a state religion, the First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” followed by freedom of speech, the press, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance.” There is no state religion in America, but reflecting the values that created it, its leaders have always acknowledged a greater power than government, the belief in God.

There would be no America if the Pilgrims who established Plymouth, Massachusetts had not left England in the quest for their right to worship as they wished, reflecting the Protestant Reformation. Another early settlement, Jamestown, was a business venture by investors to obtain wealth. Jamestown failed and Plymouth is with us today.

I am not a religious person per se, but I do believe in God. Always have and always will. I don’t insist that anyone else has to and neither do our founding documents. They do, however, acknowledge God and sought His protection to create a new nation; a republic with clearly stated protections for all its citizens.

There are, however, those who insist that any reference to God be removed from public documents and recognition. The leader among them is the Freedom From Religion Foundation and their most recent lawsuit is against the U.S. Treasury Department claiming they are discriminating against non-believers by including the phrase “In God We Trust” on the nation’s currency. Their claim is that the government is prohibited from endorsing religion over non-religion.

“In God We Trust” on U.S. coins was first approved by Congress during the Civil War in 1864. In 1956, Congress passed a resolution to recognize the words officially as the national motto, replacing the de facto phrase, “E Pluribus Unum” and it has appeared on U.S. currency since 1957.

The Foundation’s intention is to make any acknowledgement of God illegal by any public institution. If that is true, then we might was well tear up the Declaration and Constitution. Atheists are not content to not believe in God, they insist that everyone else not believe as well. That is a form of tyranny we must not permit to exist in America.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation specializes in lawsuits to advance what it calls the separation of church and state, but this principle is enshrined in the Constitution along with the right to freely exercise one’s faith. Its lawsuits are designed to destroy religion in America. In 2012 the Foundation had total contributions of $2,726,316. Nearly 90% was devoted to its attack on the freedom of religion.

In 2013, the Huffington Post reported that In the past six years the Foundation’s paid membership had increased 130 percent. It was estimated at “nearly 20,000” members. Its co-president, Laurie Gaylor, said that recent high-profile legal victories had increased the foundation’s popularity.

There is still strong support in Congress for the freedom of religion. In 1993 it passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion. It was signed into law by President Clinton. In 1997 the Supreme Court found that it was unconstitutional if applied to states, ruling that it was not a proper exercise of Congress’s enforcement power. It does, however, still apply to the federal government. In response, some states passed their own religious freedom restoration acts.

The Act was recently cited by the Supreme Court that ruled that closely held companies may be exempted from a government requirement to include contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage if it contravenes their belief in the sanctity of life.

There are millions more Americans who belong to various religious faiths and who believe that America must protect their right to exercise their faith. A relatively small Freedom From Religion Foundation will continue to use the courts to impose their atheistic views on any public institution. They must be resisted if America is to remain a citadel to the world as a place where people of faith can live together and exercise the tolerance that the atheists will not.

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The Moral Lib­eral Fea­tured Writer, Alan Caruba, writes a daily post at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.An author, busi­ness and sci­ence writer, he is the founder of The National Anx­i­ety Center. Copyright 2014 © Alan Caruba

 

 

President James Garfield shot July 2, 1881

 

James GarfieldAmerican Minute with Bill Federer

 

One bullet grazed his elbow, but a second lodged in the back of President James Garfield, who was shot JULY 2, 1881, as he waited in a Washington, D.C., train station.

 

The assassin was Charles Guiteau of a free-love polygamist-communist cult ‘Oneida Community.’

 

Garfield had only been in office four months.

 

Though not wounded seriously, unsterile medical practices trying to remove the bullet resulted in an infection.

 

Alexander Graham Bell devised a metal detector to locate the bullet, but the metal bed frame confused the instrument.

 

Two months before his 50th birthday, Garfield died on September 19, 1881.

 

The next day, Secretary of State James Blaine wrote James Russell Lowell, U.S. Minister in London:

 

“James A. Garfield, President of the United States, died…

 

For nearly eighty days he suffered great pain, and during the entire period exhibited extraordinary patience, fortitude, and Christian resignation. Fifty millions of people stand as mourners by his bier.”

 

Vice-President Chester Arthur assumed the Presidency and declared a National Day of Mourning, September 22, 1881:

 

“In His inscrutable wisdom it has pleased God to remove from us the illustrious head of the nation, James A. Garfield, late President of the United States…

 

It is fitting that the deep grief which fills all hearts should manifest itself with one accord toward the Throne of Infinite Grace…that we should bow before the Almighty…in our affliction.”

 

Garfield had been a Disciples of Christ preacher at Franklin Circle Christian Church in Cleveland, 1857-58.

 

Garfield was principal of Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (Hiram College), 1857-1860, during which time he defended creation in a debate against evolution.

 

Garfield became a lawyer in 1861, and a Major General during the Civil War.

 

Elected to Congress, Garfield despised fiat paper ‘Greenbacks’, supporting instead gold-silver backed currency.

 

Elected a U.S. Senator, Garfield gave a stirring speech at the 1880 Republican National Convention opposing the rule that all delegates from each State were required to vote for the candidate with the majority of delegates:

 

“There never can be a convention…that shall bind my vote against my will on any question whatever.”

 

Garfield won the crowd. In an unprecedented move, after 34 ballots, he was chosen as the Republican Presidential nominee over Ulysses S. Grant seeking a 3rd term.

 

Garfield stated in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1881, just 200 days before his death:

 

“Let our people find a new meaning in the divine oracle which declares that ‘a little child shall lead them,’ for our own little children will soon control the destinies of the Republic…

 

Our children…will surely bless their fathers and their fathers’ God that the Union was preserved, that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were made equal before the law.”

 

President James Garfield appointed African-Americans to prominent positions:

 

Frederick Douglass, recorder of deeds in Washington;

Robert Elliot, special agent to the U.S. Treasury;

John M. Langston, Haitian minister; and

Blanche K. Bruce, register to the U.S. Treasury.

 

Garfield appointed Civil War General Lew Wallace, author of the famous novel Ben-Hur, as U.S. Minister to Turkey.

 

Garfield described Otto von Bismark, who united German and served at its first Chancellor, 1871-1890:

 

“I am struck with the fact that Otto von Bismarck, the great statesman of Germany, probably the foremost man in Europe today, stated as an unquestioned principle, that the support, the defense, and propagation of the Christian Gospel is the central object of the German government.”

 

As a Congressman, James Garfield had stated at the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1876:

 

“Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress.

 

If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.

 

If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature…

 

If the NEXT CENTENNIAL does not find us a great nation…it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.”

 

Bill FedererThe Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

 

DOCTRINE OF FOREFATHERS

We have our latest crop of theologians and I find they are inferior to the men that existed and promulgated the gospel over 200 years ago. Today’s young pastors have recently discovered “house churches” and they have always been in existence since the time of Christ. I have worshipped in some myself. The get that tingly feeling running up their leg over “emergent churches,” and churches have been emerging from other churches since the time of Christ. This goes back to the Word of God and the time that Jesus said,”All power is given unto me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore…”. Now I understand this is not the “emergent church,” of  today. Those emergent churches were never doctrinally devoid like today’s “emergent churches” are. May we learn to “… rightly divide the Word of truth…” that we might be obedient to the call and go in the Power of the Spirit to build as we are commanded to build.

Technorati Tags: United States, Sonstitution, Declaration of Independence, theology, gospel, pastor, house church, emergent

KNOWLEDGE OF OUR FOREFATHERS

I see within the statement of Benjamin Rush an intelligence that is often not displayed today by those that consider themselves the “elite.” Here is a man that in eloquent terms has captured the essence of life and living and with great ability has reduced it to a short paragraph and encapsulated the true means of life. Benjamin Rush understands that life does not exist in sipping wine to inebriation and critically commenting on art but knows that life consist in living, knowing there is a God that standards and Morals that are the basis of a life well led. Let us cling to the mission of Christ and never succumb to the wine bibbers of today. Amen.

Technorati Tags: Declaration of independence, God, morals, wine, Christ

PREACH IT BROTHER

“I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the same in substance equal in power and glory. That the scriptures of the old and new testaments are a revelation from God, and a complete rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. That God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, so as thereby he is not the author or approver of sin. That he creates all things and preserves and governs all creatures and all their actions, in a manner perfectly consistent with the freedom of will in moral agents, and the usefulness of means. That he made man at first perfectly holy, that the first man sinned, and as he was the public head of his posterity, they all became sinners in consequence of his first transgression, are wholly indisposed to that which is good and inclined to evil, and on account of sin are liable to all the miseries of this life, to death, and to the pains of hell forever.” – Roger Sherman, Signer of the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.

How many have noticed the wordsmiths that signed our Declaration of Independence and other documents. The above quote illustrates the education of that day and the art of writing. Notice how Roger Sherman used the word “means” and placed it and properly used it. There are few of us today that would use this word in this manner. I like the term “wholly indisposed”. How about the terminology, “on account.” The intelligence and learning of these men often surprise me. Consider, they were readers because there was no television in those days.

I look back at the days of my grandfather on my mom’s side of the family. In winter, when darkness comes early and the chores have been completed, there were choices to be made as to the entertainment of the evening. Checkers and dominoes were common games to be played. Reading was an activity that many would engage in. The country farms offered the Sears Roebuck catalogue and the Bible. Many learned their English from exquisite Old English of the King James Bible.

Roger Sherman shows evidence of having drank deeply from the draughts of doctrine that God has revealed in His Word. He has laid out in one short, complete, lucid paragraph a compendium of God’s Word.

This is marvelous indeed.

Technorati Tags: Roger Sherman, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, checkers, dominoes, Sears