A True Memorial Day

HOW TO MAKE THIS A TRUE MEMORIAL DAY

BY

DR. JERRY FALWELL

A. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

1. I am going to begin by reading from the Declaration of Independence because it has some solid biblical truth I want you to hear.

“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. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

2. The Declaration of Independence is the greatest document (outside the Bible) in the history of mankind.

Because it promises the greatest good.

Because it has impacted the greatest number of people.

Because it provided the greatest quality of living.

Because it produced the greatest nation;

And that nation provided the greatest freedom in history,

And led to the greatest advancement of mankind this world has ever known.

3. Four Christian “Self-Evident Truths” our founding fathers believed all came from the Word of God.

a. They believed in a Creator.

(note: They capitalized the word Creator which shows their respect for God.)

b. They believed that God created them in His own image.

(note: All are created by God.)

(note: They made no allowance for evolution).

(note: God gave them right of personality, i.e. intellect, emotion and will.)

c. They believed in supernatural acts, i.e. that a supernatural Being began this universe and is responsible for giving people the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

d. They believed in moral absolutes or absolute truths which our Fathers call “inalienable rights,” and self-evident truths. (Government cannot give these rights, so Government cannot take them away. These rights came from God.

(note: Today they are called “civil rights.” I believe Government doesn’t gives us these rights . . . Government recognizes these rights.)

B. The Mayflower Compact, November, 1620.

This is the document that gave the direction to this nation.

1. “In the Name of God Almighty, we whose names are underwritten . . . having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, . . . a voyage to plan the first colony in northern Virginia (they were in Massachusetts); do by these present, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politick . . .”

2. Three biblical truths those on board the Mayflower believed:

(a) They believed the new nation would glorify God.

(b) They believed the new nation would extend Christianity, i.e. “the advancement of the Christian faith.”

(c) They believed their authority was from God. They planted a colony “in the name of Almighty God.” What have you done in the name of God or for the glory of God?

C. THREE BIBLE REFERENCES

“Blessed is the nation, whose God is the Lord”

(Ps. 33:72). This verse tells me God has blessed America because we have made God to be our Lord. What will happen when we make other things our Lord, i.e. money, sex greed, pleasure, etc.?

“Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). The Bible promises that we would be blessed when we followed righteousness, and we have had abundant blessings. The Bible also promises that when we follow sin, it will be our reproach.

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Ps. 9:17). God hates our sin, and God will judge our sin. I believe God doesn’t hate America and I hope God doesn’t judge America.

D. AMERICA IS A CHRISTIAN NATION BECAUSE:

1. It was Christians who first came to America for Christian purposes.

2. It was Christians who wrote the Declaration of Independence and included their belief of God in its Preamble.

3. It is Christians who wrote our Constitution on a Christian view of law. They did not found our nation on Christian laws, but on God’s laws, which are absolute truth and absolute morality.

4. Christianity has been the largest religious body in America.

E. OUR FATHERS FOUNDED THIS NATION:

1. For the glory of God.

2. Based on rights given to them by God.

3. Seeking the blessing of God.

4. Did not America pray and fast in times of war and national emergency?

5. Did not America claim to be “One nation under God” in its slogans?

6. Did not America put “In God we trust” on its coins?

7. Did not America inaugurate its presidents with a hand on the Bible and ask them to pledge “So help me God?”

8. Has not America portrayed itself as a Christian nation which depends on God for help?

9. Has not America held out its missionary hand to every other nation of the world?