America

I am an American, and I love America. I love America because of its GREATNESS. It is great in territory, resources, strength, beauty, and achievements. I love America because of its GRACIOUSNESS. America has shared its wealth, its scientific discoveries, its medical accomplishments will all mankind. I love America because of its GIFTS to me. I love America because it has given me freedom of religion and speech.

One man asked another, “Isn’t true that both the Soviet and American constitutions guarantee freedom of speech?”

“Yes, but the American constitution also guarantees freedom after speech,” came the reply.

A MAN WHO WON’T USE HIS FREEDOM TO DEFEND HIS FREEDOM DOESN’T DESERVE HIS FREEDOM.

A groom was terribly nervous on the eve of his wedding. “What is wrong? Have you lost your ring?” asked a friend.

“No,” answered the groom sadly. “I have lost my enthusiasm.” Many Christians have lost their enthusiasm for America.

What is it that is going to determine to destiny of our great nation?

Let me give you four things:

I. American’s destiny will be determined by its remembrance of the sacred (Psalm 9:17)

America destiny will be determined by its remembrance of God. A South American president once said, "South America was founded by men seeking gold, but North America was founded by men seeking God.” Another man said, "The Spaniards came here for gold; The French came here for gain, but the original colonists came here for God.”

I believe America has reached the pinnacle of greatness unlike any nation in human history because our founding fathers established America’s laws and precepts on the principles of the Word of God, and this includes the Ten Commandments. God has blessed this nation because in its early days she sought to honor God.

Psalm 33:12 is still in the Bible: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD." When we give God his rightful place again, we will be America blessed. I want to go across this land and scream, “Wake up! Wake up! Let us give God His rightful place in America.”

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, they knelt down upon the shore and thanked God for giving them a new country. The worship of Jesus Christ was at the center of every new settlement in this land. When the Continental Congress faced great problems and difficulties and knew not which way to turn, Benjamin Franklin called upon the members of Congress to fall upon their knees and pray.

Our founding fathers of the United States of America wrote their faith in God into the Constitution, stamped the words “In God We Trust” onto the coins, and found great educational institutions on the Word of God. The first three American universities established upon this continent - Harvard, Yale, and Princeton - were originally built in order to train pastors for the ministry.

The reason America has stood for more than 200 years is that God has been in her history ever since her beginning. Benjamin Franklin uttered these profound words, “God surely was no idle spectator when this great nation was born in His name and with His grace.” I hear people say, “What about the separation of Church and state?” You will never find that statement, nor anything remotely like that in the Constitution of America. However, you will find in the 1st Amendment these words, “Congress will make no law respecting the establishment of religion nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.” It says nothing about you and me getting involved in government. It just says that the government cannot get involved in the business of the church. The statement “separation of Church and State” was made by Thomas Jefferson, and his meaning of separation of church and state is not how it is being used today. Since he said it, I think he best knows what he meant when he said it. Listen to his own words: “The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall; it keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government.”

Our forefathers not one time sought to exclude God from this great nation. Rather, they made every effort to include God in every great document. That is one reason why America has stood as long as she has. I want you to listen carefully to the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren to Time Magazine in 1954: “I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing the Good Book and the good Spirit of the Saviour have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses ……. Whether we look to the First Charter of Virginia, or the Charter of New England, or to the Charter of Massachusetts Bay, or the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. The same object is present; a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it; freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice of the law, and the reservation of powers to the people. I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country.”