God’s Stamp On America

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• We are living in a time of confusion and a time of misinformation.

• As a society we are at a crossroads. If you have been following the news, you have to be concerned about what is happening around you today in the United States of America.

• What is happening to America?

• WE can spend all day talking about the bad things that are happening, but until we get at the root of the problem all the talk in the world will not change anything because we will be dealing with symptoms and not the real problem.

• What has caused America to slide down a dangerous path?

• It is because we are confused about where and if God belongs in our nation. As time goes by, we are pushing God further and further out of our society. Has it always been that way?

• What did our founding fathers fight and die for? What did they lay their lives on the line for?

• It is easy for us to look back on history and say that it was easy for these people to do what they did because we see that they won the war. But remember they took on the strongest nation in the world at the time; victory was not a sure thing.

• Is it important to see what our founding fathers believed and fought for?

• Yes it is. These men had a vision for the nation that they shed their blood for, it was a vision that was so strong they were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds to make it happen.

• Today we are going to see if our Founding Father’s intended for God to place his stamp on various aspects of our great Nation!

• Because of time I will only be scratching the surface in each area we will examine.

• The founding fathers wrote volumes and volumes of things, it is sad to see supposed educators making accusations without looking at primary source documents.

• If you want more information I would encourage you to go to www.wallbuilders.com.

• Much of the historical information for this message comes from the work of David Barton the founder of Wallbuilders. We have just shown his video “America’s Godly Heritage.” It is available to check out in our library.

• By the way, this information is not FICTION, it is all facts of history anyone can research what I am going to share with you this morning. LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN USUAL MESSAGE.

• I want to read Deuteronomy 11:13-25 with you this morning because thi has application to God and His dealings. In the context this is written to the Israelites concerning the Promised Land.

• God has either put His stamp on America or He has not, let us see what our Founder’s thought concerning this important issue as we celebrate Independence Day!

• SLIDE #2

SERMON Let’s look at:

I. GOD’S STAMP ON AMERICA’S HERITAGE.

• There is much confusion over our nation’s heritage. There is much confusion over the beliefs of the founding fathers.

• Today it is popular for uninformed people to say that the founders were not Christians. They say that Thomas Jefferson wrote a bible that had no references to miracles.

• This is not true; he wrote two books that were written to the Indians so that they could learn something about Jesus. Thomas Jefferson would not have liked these books being called bibles.

• Jefferson called HIMSELF a Christian in his own writings.

• One of the first acts of the United States Congress was to authorize the printing of 20,000 Bibles for the Indians.

• Further, "When our first President, under the new Constitution, received the request of both Houses of Congress concerning a national declaration of a public day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, ’George Washington...issued a National Thanksgiving Proclamation without any apparent concern that he might be mixing government and religion."

• The men who founded our country clearly tied it to Christian principles. "By today’s standards," as syndicated columnist Don Feder says, "the founding fathers were the religious right."

• Tim LaHaye says that "This Christian consensus is easily verified by the fact that prior to 1789 (the year that eleven of the thirteen states ratified the Constitution), many of the states still had constitutional requirements that a man must be a Christian in order to hold public office."

• This Christian consensus was understood by leaders long after the American Revolution, as well. Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, called for a "National Fast Day," citing the fact that "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven ...But we have forgotten God."

• 52 of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the constitution were members of orthodox churches.