United States of America
Independence Day
[July 4]
O ETERNAL God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Deuteronomy x. 17 & St. Matthew v. 43
Today America celebrates its Declaration of Independence. The noble document that declared that independence asserted that all men are endowed by their CREATOR with certain inalienable rights (rights that cannot be taken away, because they are given by God) including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Today, there is a very organized and systematic attack to remove God from public consciousness in America (and hence any concept of inalienable rights - for if there is no God to bestow them, there cannot be inalienable rights. Hence, everything is up for grabs, nothing is sacred.) The first prong of this attack is to remove any concept of God as a force in the nation. The second is to revise the Constitution - not by amendment as is set forth by our fathers, but by legal maneuvering to qualify the words, redefine them, to fit the concepts of certain groups.
The revisionist would like to rewrite history, and try their best in our children's text books and curricula. The biggest lie is one that says the founding fathers did not hold Judeo-Christian values as precepts in establishing our Republic. Another is that our motto found on our currency, "In God We Trust", violates the invented idea of separation of God and state (that is not in the Constitution…. those are words of a court, black robed jurists who take it upon themselves to define, against all historic evidence, the concept of a country under God.) I heard it claimed that that the motto was coined in the 1950s to fend against the atheist-communist threat - and is a breach of the clause of our Bill of Rights in the Constitution that says the Government will not establish any religion. It is probably true that the motto was placed on currency to help defend against atheism and communism, but I do believe it has been our motto for some time now. I have placed two stanzas of the National Anthem below. Most know of the first stanza, but not of the last. These are from the 1940 hymnal and a link below will take you to the site and music. Note that when Francis Scott Key penned this in 1814, during our last war with Britain, he wrote: and this be our motto, "In God we trust," and he called on the nation to "Praise the Power, that hath made and preserved us a nation."
I've no doubt that many would like to strike those verses and revise the Anthem. I've no doubt they will try. May God embolden US Christians to affirm with strength their heritage and their faith - and fight to retain what their founding fathers so clearly put in place.
National Anthem of the United States of America, verses 1 and 4 as printed in the 1940 hymnal.
O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, "IN GOD WE TRUST." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Deuteronomy x. 17
THE LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.St. Matthew v. 43
JESUS said, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Prayer