“One Nation Under God?

On July 4, 1776, the final wording for the Declaration of Independence was agreed upon, but not until August 2 was it signed by a group of fifty-six courageous men, sometimes referred to as our “founding fathers”.  The closing words of that document read, “With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

These men counted the cost of freedom and liberty:

• Five were captured and tortured to death

• Twelve had their homes robbed, occupied and then burned to the ground.

• Nine died in the war

• Two lost their sons in the war.

The founding fathers of America were guided and strengthened by Biblical principles and precepts.

In 1787, when representatives met in Philadelphia to write the Constitution of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, 81 years old, addressed the convention: “I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of man.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it.  I firmly believe this.  I, therefore, beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning.”

George Washington’s address to Congress, 1789:  “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained.”

John Jay, Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court, 1816: “Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, privilege, and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

Noah Webster, in the preface to The American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828: “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

Abraham Lincoln set aside April 30, 1863, as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer: “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.”

Woodrow Wilson,1911: “America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scriptures.”

Gerald Ford, 1974, quoting Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life.  Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first–the most basic–expression of Americanism. Thus, the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.”

America began as a nation under God, governed by leaders who recognized and mostly submitted to God’s authority; but at present, God’s Word is voided by our government, belittled in the workplace, disposed of by higher education, and turned away by our public schools.

Future generations will inevitably be more hostile toward Christianity than this present one, when God’s Word to be the sovereign authority in Marriage, Family, Churches, Communities, Culture or Government, when the Bible is no longer referenced or revered, America will cease to be One Nation UNDER GOD.

Peter Marshall, a Scottish-American Preacher, was twice appointed Chaplain to the US Senate (1947-1949); he died in 1949 at the age of 46. Peter Marshall profoundly understood what was needed if America was to continue as One Nation Under God, as is reflected when he declared,

“The choice before us is plain, Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration. I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens.  The time is come, it now is, when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship.  America’s future depends upon her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.”

2Timothy 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–  having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  

The Scriptures teach that God will judge those who do not honor Him. America’s government is spiritually deaf, dumb, and blind, and America’s people are spiritually deceived, confused, and led astray.

The Constitution of the US was designed to perpetuate a Christian order, and our government was to be the political expression of Christian ideas, it was never intended that there be an absence of God in America’s government; America was meant to be One Nation UNDER GOD!

1Peter 2:9-10,  “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

All Christians from all cultures from all history past, present and future, are One Nation [the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Family of God] Under God [Who is the Head of His Body, the Church] through Christ [the Bridegroom] who is the Lord and Savior of all who believe, and Sovereign Judge over all people for all time.