Independence Day!

July 4
INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Blessed Is The Nation by Dr. D. James Kennedy

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord…—Psalm 33:12

This time of year is always a perfect time to dwell on the founding of our nation. Did you know that God’s providence played an enormous part in the settling and founding of this country? George Washington alluded to God’s providence many times as he recounted our nation’s development. Let’s look at just one stunning example, forgotten by many today.

In the first year of the Revolutionary War, America almost lost the entire conflict. British General Howe had cornered Washington’s army in Brooklyn Heights. The British forces surrounded the American forces in a great semicircle, and behind them British ships could close them off at any time. In fact, the British intended to do just that the next day and thus end the war.

The Americans had no way to escape. Nevertheless, that night, Washington endeavored to escape, realizing the helplessness of his position. He collected every vessel he could find, from rowboats to sloops, and set about to evacuate his troops by night.

Counselors advised against such an escape because the British would see them in the moonlight and hear the splashing of their oars. But Washington was determined to go ahead anyway. Just as the American troops began to launch their vessels, a strange and unusual fog rose up and completely covered all of them! The next morning, when General Howe gave the orders to close the trap, he was astonished to find that Washington and his entire army had disappeared!

Precisely because of many incidents like these, Washington wrote after the war: “I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States.”

Today, thank God for His providence during the formation this great nation. And please join me in reminding people of God’s hand in founding it. Let’s give credit to Whom it is due.
The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations. —George Washington



What Makes America Unique by Dr. Jim Denison

America celebrates her 239th birthday today. According to a recent survey, nearly two in three Americans say God has granted our nation an exceptional role in human history. Is this true?

Charles Murray earned a BA in history from Harvard and a PhD in political science from MIT. In American Exceptionalism: An Experiment in History, he states categorically: "American exceptionalism is a fact of America's past, not something you can choose whether to 'believe in' any more than you can choose whether to 'believe in' the battle of Gettysburg." In its early years, the United States was considered to be "exceptional" by foreign observers as much as by Americans.

According to Murray, four factors contributed to the nation's uniqueness:
1. Our geography: rich soil for farming, a frontier to encourage immigration, and the Atlantic Ocean to separate us from European conflict.
2. Our people: hardworking pioneers who formed close-knit families.
3. Our ideology: the belief that humans possess innate rights which the state cannot bestow or withhold.
4. Our religiosity: by separating church and state, we formed congregations composed of people committed to their faith, not just those born into it.

John Adams was blunt: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Do these factors mean that our founders were all Christians? We sometimes hear that 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were "orthodox" Christians, and that 24 held seminary degrees. But their personal spiritual commitments are actually hard to determine. We can characterize only about 20—half were biblical Christians, while the rest were deists or non-orthodox.

While America's founders were not all committed Christians, they were clearly committed to a Judeo-Christian moral standard. Even Thomas Jefferson, himself a deist, insisted: "Injustice in government undermines the foundations of a society. A nation, therefore, must take measures to encourage its members along the paths of justice and morality."

How can we take such "measures" today?

Abraham Lincoln warned, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

Spiritual renewal is critical to the future of our democracy Our greatest need today is not to make America a Christian nation, but to help America be a nation of Christians (Matthew 28:18-20).

I love America, and celebrate her national birthday with joy. But I also pray every day for America to experience the spiritual awakening we so desperately need.

Will you join me?