Memorializing Memorial Day

1. “. . . We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about. America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify those elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelation of Holy Scripture.” W. Wilson

2. The rewriting of American history is real. Time does not permit to go into detail, but most importantly many/most of our culture are buying into a “Godless Nation with a Godless Constitution.” It just isn’t so.

3. Memorial Day honors the ones who laid down their lives for America.

a. This is not about building an empire or our borders. [Secretary of State, Colin Powell made a presentation at an Economic Forum in Switzerland in 2003. He was asked if the US relied too much on military power as opposed to the common values of peaceful religions. Powell replied, “We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.”

b. America is an ideal where a Constitution has been established, not to restrain the people from controlling the government, but to restrain the government from tyrannical control of the people based on biblical principle. Government’s job is not to give rights but to protect God-given rights.

c. People have died for an ideal of the freedom to choose the best course for one’s own life. At one time that choice came by faith in God.

4. Psalm 33.12a – 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,

5. Deuteronomy 8 – Moses addressed Israelites before entering the fruitful PL. Verse 10 – 10"When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

v. 17 – 17"Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.'

v. 19 – 19"It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.

6. Have you ever wondered why the Revolutionary forces were victorious over the mighty British Army – the most powerful Army in the world? That is like Puerto Rico declaring Independence from USA and then declaring war on us

I. God performed some mighty wonders in the beginning of this nation.

A. 8.27.1776 – British General Howe had trapped Washington and his troops on Long Island. He intended to advance on them the next morning and crush them, ending the war.

• In a desperate attempt to escape, George Washington gathered every available vessel, including row boats and began to row his 8000 troops to the mainland. When morning came, however, there were still large numbers of troops dangerously exposed to the British.

• Major Ben Talmage, George Washington's Chief of Intelligence wrote, “At the dawn of the next day, those of us who remained in the trenches became very anxious for our own safety. At this time, a very dense fog began to rise out of the river and it seemed it seemed to settle in a peculiar manner over both encampments. I recollect this peculiar providential occurrence perfectly well. So dense was the atmosphere that I could scarcely discern a man at 6 yards’ distance.”

The fog was so dense that the British could not attack and General Washington was able to evacuate all of his troops. Never again did the British have such a rare chance to destroy the Continental Army.

Psalm 33.16 – 16 No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

B. Yorktown

Yorktown Guide (Y-town pivotal battle when we won the war) “We won for three reasons 1. Brilliance of Gen. Washington and the help he got from the French; 2. Division in British Army (bickering), and 3. Luck –

Cornwallis chose Yorktown because it was good ground for battle and it was the only place where the James River was narrow enough that if he needed to retreat he could cross. When he learned that Washington was coming up from the South, he sent for reinforcements from NY but they were late in coming.

When the battle began, Cornwallis was hammered and knew he needed to retreat. He thought that during the night he would evacuate his troops across the James River. The first wave got across then a fierce storm came up and the wind blew so hard that the boats could not get back across the river to rescue any more British troops.