Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. – Psalm 33:12

As we celebrate the 224th anniversary of the formation of the United States of America, it is time for us to sit back and reflect upon how and why this grand nation was founded. The questions brought before you today are: (1) Do you think America is a Christian nation? (2) How do we reclaim our heritage?

Recently, our own president, one Barak Obama, made a comment that America was not a Christian nation but one open to all religions. Although I could spend countless hours arguing against Pres. Obama words, I am going to refrain from doing so and let the words of our founding fathers and other leaders present the opposing argument. Likewise, we will look to The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as witnesses to our belief that America was founded as “One Nation under God”. So let us begin with The Declaration of Independence and see where the Lord guides us. You can find most of these quotes at Wallbuilders,com. Scripture and the quote from Ambassador Malik are taken from The American Patriot’s Bible.

A Look At President Obama's Statement

For the law of the Spirit has made me free… - Romans 6:2

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. – II Cor. 3:17

The Declaration of Independence

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of governments………

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliance, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Notice the references to God and His protection upon the signers of this most historic document. Now let us hear from some of the signers of The Declaration of Independence.

“The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses.” – Thomas Jefferson (3rd president of the United States, author of The Declaration of Independence)

Declaration Of Independence

“Has [government] any solid foundation? Any chief cornerstone?... I think it has an everlasting foundation in the unchangeable will of God… The sum of my argument is that civil government is of God.” - James Otis (leader of the Sons of Liberty)

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.” – Gen. George Washington (1st president of the United States)

“The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and His apostles… This is genuine Christianity and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.” – Noah Webster

“The Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” – Noah Webster

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.” – Pres. John Adams

“Righteousness alone can exalt America as a nation. Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.” – Patrick Henry

“The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” – U.S. Congress, 1854

“Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.” – U.S. Congress, U. S. House Judiciary Committee, 1854

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…….

DONE in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present the seventeenth day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth.” - The Constitution of the United States of America

US Constitution

To Ad A Little Humor To This weeks Lesson

“Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian.” - Richmond v. Moore, Illinois Supreme Court, 1883

These are just a sampling of the many quotes from our own nation’s perspective. But, how do people from other nations view us? I think this one quote sums it all up for us:

“The good [in the United States] would never have come into being without the blessing and power of Jesus Christ…. Whoever tries to conceive the American word without taking full account of the suffering and love and salvation of Christ is only dreaming. I know how embarrassing this matter is to politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, and cynics; but, whatever these honored men think, the irrefutable is that the soul of America is, at its best and highest, Christian.” – Charles Malik (Lebanese ambassador and president of the 13th session of the UN General Assembly, 1959)

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. – James 1:25

Have we looked into this perfect law of liberty? Are we continuing to see the USA as a Christian nation? Are we doing all that is needed in order to return America to its roots?

Ever since that fateful June day in 1961, when prayer was taken out of school, the Christians of America have been passive while Satan tries to destroy America’s foundation as “one nation under God.” It is time for us to wake up and take back our nation for God. We need a large scale revival and we need it in a hurry. As my conclusion to this two-part study of America’s Christian heritage, next week we will look at the roles that revivals have played in American history and how a new revival can prepare America for the times to come.

I hope this lesson has revived your patriotism and has encouraged you to celebrate the Fourth of July just as our forefathers intended – as a religious holiday set aside to praise God for his protection and inspiration. Remember, without Christ we are a hopeless and lost nation. May we shine forth the light of salvation in Christ Jesus to the rest of the world like we once did in the past. It is not too late yet; but time is running out.

Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for your love and protection. We thank you that we, as a nation, have been privileged to call You Lord. We ask that You forgive us from straying from Your will for us as a nation. And, we ask that You will once again strengthen and embolden us as we strive to once again be that blessed nation You have ordained us to be. We pray Your will be done. In the most blessed name of Jesus, these things we ask. Amen

Have a happy and blessed July 4th.
In Christ, Mark