6.29.08
LAUS DEO - Monumental Faith, Monumental Praise
By William Akehurst, HSWC
Psalm 33:12
This Week we celebrate our independence. Independence from WHAT?
Our Nation’s Capital is filled with reminders, but to many it remains a secret.
Basic outline
Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
1. Ps 117 – We are to give praise as a people, and as a nation
2. Deut 6 – We are to love the LORD will everything in us. Remembering to teach others about the LORD.
3. Joshua 4 talks about creating memorials so future generations will know
4. Our nation was founded upon the one true GOD, but many do not see it or understand it.
5. Founded on the ONE TRUE GOD
5.a. Presidential Quotes
5.b. Lincoln, national day of prayer
6. John 1:5 – Our nation was founded on Godly principles, but many Americans don’t understand it; and even reject it.
7. Psalm 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
8. Washington Monument
8.a. No other building is allowed higher then the monument in all of DC
8.b. Looks like an arrow, pointing upward, to the heavens
8.c. On top of its east face, resides a 5” Plaque – Proclaiming to our nation. LAUS DEO, which means, Praise Be to GOD.
8.d To the East of the monument is our nation’s capital. From the capital, our leaders look onward to the monument pointing them to GOD proclaiming to PRAISE THE LORD. But many of them are in the dark. John 1:5
9. Without GOD, we are nothing. Without GOD, our nation will suffer. Without GOD, our nation will fall.
10. We must act now. 2 Chronicles 7:14
11. As Children of GOD, we must pray for HIS forgiveness. We must pray for our leaders. We must pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, for our nation.
Psalm 117
O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.
John 1:5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it
Many of the new generation, have not remembered what we are independent from. They do not understand the tyranny; they do not understand their freedom.
Yes, there are soldiers who stand for us everyday across the globe, and we see the benefits of them standing in our place, defending that which we believe in.
We have received the blessing, and we must never forget from where it came.
Joshua shows us memorials were created to be seen by generations that follow. Memorials of the testimony of victory.
Read: Joshua 4:2-7
What is it we are to teach the next generation? To Love the LORD.
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-8
Our nation is in trouble. I’m very concerned about this next presidential election. Where do they stand? For WHOM do they stand?
Do realize that which is right before their very eyes?
If you’ve ever been to Washington DC, you can not help but realize that the founding of our country was based on Godly principles, and a HIGHER calling. Scripture abounds throughout our nations capital.
And we can know that our past presidents have understood this Higher calling.
“If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under” Ronald Reagan
A NATION GONE UNDER
“The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God” John F Kennedy
GOD’S GENEROSITY
“We believe that all men are created equal, because they are created in the image of God” Harry Truman
“Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate of the government of any other” John Adams
We are losing it. Our nation is no longer a moral and religious people, we have forgotten the foundation of this nation as set by our forefathers.
Thomas Jefferson in 1781 said, “Liberty is a gift of God. Rights and freedom come not from a king and government, but a Creator. At the birth of a nation, these are revolutionary thoughts.”
LIBERTY IS A GIFT OF GOD.
As you walk and tour around Washington, you see that our Founding Fathers had scriptural, righteous leading.
Founders – had a clear religious liberty and freedom of expression
Separation of church and state mean something different then what it was
It was to keep separate, but not to shut off the righteous influences of Christianity.
Here we are, pulling out the 10 commandments, taking In God We Trust off the money.
Our Founding fathers believed God was central in defining America and securing the blessing of liberty to our new nation
Government should not interfere with religion, and at the same time not hostile to religion
We are a nation founded Under God
Our Congress opens in prayer. And our Schools have banned it.
John 1:5 – Our nation was founded on Godly principles, but many Americans don’t understand it; and even reject it.
+ + +
In 1863 President Lincoln designated April 30th as a national day of prayer and humiliation…
Reference: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/fast.htm
“By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a
day for National prayer and humiliation.
And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy
and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a
punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in
peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and
strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient
to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.
And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the
humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins,
and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward, Secretary of State.”
+ + +
Just as Israel entered into the promised land.
Pilgrims struck out for a place where they could worship the One True God.
The Mayflower Compact states
“…Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony…solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick”
I believe that for years, we have stood on the promises of the LORD from the very foundation of the beliefs of the men and women who first set foot on this land.
I believe that the very reason for our prosperity as a nation is because the very principles of this nation were founded in honoring God and Christ.
I believe that our forefathers came to this land, this promised land if you will, to worship and serve the one true God, the God of Abraham, Issaac and Jacob. Even our constitution, and all of Washington DC’s structures, monuments and
memorials, point to God.
Laus Deo
In the middle of Washington DC stands a monument. Our national Monument.
The Washington Monument.
As a history lesson, there are some things you should know about this place
There can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument in the DC area
On the aluminum cap on the East top portion of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. are displayed these two words: Laus Deo.
Because of their position, no one can see these words with the naked eye.
These two words were placed on top the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the entire DC area, the capital of the United States of America.
Place in the highest position over the most powerful city of the greatest nation in the world.
Two words, small, seemingly insignificant…but the most precious and important words anyone could ever write, read, say or proclaim...LAUS DEO.
What could these two Latin words possible mean? Very simply, they say what every man, woman and child of this nation should be saying…
Laus Deo = Praise Be to GOD!
Praise be to God! Within the monument itself is a staircase with 50 landings. On these landings are memorial stones with scriptures and prayers from the nations.
On one of the landings is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore; another holds a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians; another still, a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting
Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!
Proverbs 10:7 “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot
Luke 18:16 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
The cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th,
1848 and in it was deposited of all things, the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy
"One Nation, Under God."
LAUS DEO
To walk through our nation’s capital, you will easily find the signature of GOD through the inscriptions of HIS word. Quoted for all the nation to see.
We as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA have been BLESSED by the GOD in whom we trust. The ONE true GOD. The God of Deuteronomy 6:4
Without GOD, we are nothing. Without GOD, our nation will suffer. Without GOD, our nation will fall.
We must act now.
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Abraham Lincoln said it all with these words…“We must set apart a time for National prayer and humiliation…to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and
pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."
As Children of GOD, we must pray for HIS forgiveness. We must pray for our leaders. We must pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, for our nation.
As Soldiers of the Cross of Jesus Christ, we are in a battle for our nation.
We must first start in humility, on our knees, asking for the LORD for HIS forgiveness. We as a nation, must turn from this wickedness before us.
Then HE will forgive us, and heal our land.
Pray for the leaders of our nation. Pray for this next president. Pray for those in authority of our Government, and our military, and our fellow churches.
And in JESUS’ NAME. PRAISE THE LORD.
