The following is a guest post by my friend Det Bowers.
Twenty-three decades ago a Continental Congress declared
this gathering of colonies a nation of people independent from all others
except “the Supreme Judge of the world.” In their Declaration of
Independence, they left no doubt that one God created them as well as these
United States located in America. In their sober fervor to exercise the
task of statecraft, they declared, “With a firm reliance on the protection of
Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes,
and our sacred honor.”
You are most familiar with the fourth verse of Francis Scott
Key’s The Star Spangled Banner wherein all the glory for this nation is
attributed to the Lord:
Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved homes
and war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued
land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, and this be our motto:
‘In God is our trust.’ And the star spangled banner in triumph shall
wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
What has changed over the past two hundred and forty
years? “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods?” (Jer.
2:11). Has the dependence of a people upon the very “Divine Providence”
that forged a free people become independence from the liberating “Divine Providence?”
Could the constitutional magna charta of this national congregation need
revisiting so Americans remember the cornerstone of American liberty?
Neither people nor their governments can be neutral toward
religion – secularism is a religion. When a republican form of government
separate the people from their moorings (the Bible), an implosion is birthed,
for neutrality is a myth spewing from the mouth of agony. John Wycliffe (1330-1384) said, “This Bible is for the
government of the people, by the people and for the people.” God says,
“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty
deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary
principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).
How do you know when a people have “exchanged the truth of
God for a lie” and have begun worshiping and serving “the creature rather than
the Creator, who is blessed forever?” (Ro. 1:25).
v When
the lawful are fearful of navigating their streets at night
v When
shamelessness is publicized and yet few are ashamed
v When
social discourse focuses upon symptoms rather than causes
v When
historically aberrant lifestyles and decorum are normalized
v When
churches battle for societal acceptance rather than righteousness
v When
society fails to produce true heroes
Americans’ refusal to address the marrow of their
delinquency is perpetuating a race of humanity refusing to advance beyond
puberty. Americans are so enamored with the allure of youthfulness and
the Peter Pan theology of never growing up that they have brought upon
themselves and their progeny a perpetual puberty.
Many churchmen are watching the last struggles of a once
Christian people, a once Christian church or a once Christian family, and yet
are taking no action. They are as Pilate in MATTHEW
27:24 delivering over Truth to be crucified though he perceives himself
innocent of Jesus’ blood. The sin of quietness is inexcusable in those
who have the vigor and yet not the courage to influence policy.
Today’s America is producing men without chests, without
passion and without excuse, “because that which is known about God is evident
within them; for God made it evident to them” (Ro. 1:19). Where are the
sons of freedom called by God to engineer a continuing progressive
reformation? Why are sons of glory refusing to move with singleness of
purpose? Do they not know that Christianity is America’s most effective
social program?
Samuel Francis Smith wrote of the hand of God upon this
America. Though many remember the opening verse of America (My country
‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing), far fewer remember the
fourth verse of that hymn:
Our fathers’ God to Thee, Author of liberty, to Thee we sing;
long may our land be bright with freedom’s holy light,
protect us by Thy might, Great God
our King.
God’s people are equipped as patriots for godliness.
In 1778, Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to the French declaring, “He who
shall introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity will change
the face of the world.” America’s populace is religious – it always has been
and shall forever be. Therefore, when revisionists attempt to re-write
America’s history in order to deprive generations of the Christian influence
upon this nation and societal engineers attempt to keep religion out of the
public square, they shall discover a nation fraught with civil discord and
psychological disorder.
America’s Founders established this commonwealth with a holy
vision in their minds, Bibles in their hearts and psalms upon their lips.
Their commitment to Christ assured that their lines did fall upon them in
pleasant places and their heritage would be beautiful (Ps. 16:6). Their
God has not dealt with them according to their national sins, for if He had the
heavens would be brass and the earth would have swallowed them up.
Your God expects you to “render to Caesar the things that
are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Lk. 20:25). Are you
rendering to Caesar the things that are God’s? Victor Hugo said that Columbus’
glory lay not in his arrival, but in weighing anchor. Have you weighed
anchor?
Your America is in a moral plummet because it is in need of
another spiritual and cultural reformation. These United States are
becoming increasingly disunited. Americans are becoming more fractured by
ethnicity, economics and ego. This graced land needs tutors to instruct
Americans in thinking Theocentrically (God-centered) rather than
anthropocentrically (man-centered). The clarion call is for new
leadership and statesmanship that is no longer covetous to accumulate wealth
and power, but willing to sacrifice all in the cause of righteousness.
God-appointed watchmen access the Holy Spirit to discern
appropriate advances. They baptize every thought in the word of God and
their prayerful minds seek to capture the mind of Christ. Christians will
not quail because they refuse to bow their knees to fallen public opinion,
societal acceptability and cultural conformity. Retreat is no option for
God’s beloved, for they have nowhere to flee except the bosom of Christ.
They shall remain unflinchingly biblical regardless of the ugliness of men and
the assaults of demons.
Self-deniers can change the course of nations. Never in the
history of these states united have so few been enabled and ennobled by so
great a salvation to accomplish so much in so brief a time with such lasting
effects. Christian fifes and drums must pulsate for an American
renaissance wherein “righteousness exalts a nation” (Prov. 14:34).
Return to the American Spirit of 1776 and reflect upon the
conflict that birthed the land of your birth. Read again the four gospels
and the Spirit of eternity will remind you that Christianity itself was birthed
in conflict. The Washingtons, Madisons, Hales and Henrys were willing to
go into harm’s way for a cause greater than themselves. America is again
in travail and calls you to labor at her bedside. Holy patriots are
needed to address the assailants battering their homeland (Isa. 1:26).
Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
was a member of the First Continental Congress and the first governor of
Virginia. In an address delivered at the Virginia Convention, St. John’s
Church, Richmond, Virginia, on March 23rd, 1775, he said,
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of
the means which the God
of
nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the
holy
cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are
invincible
by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir,
we
shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over
the
destinies of nations, and who will raise friends to fight our battles for
us.
The
battle, sir, is not to the strong alone, it is to the vigilant, the active, the
brave.
Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire
it,
it is now too late to return from the contest. There is no retreat but in
submission
and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard
on
the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable – and let it come! I
repeat
it,
sir, let it come!
It
is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, peace,
peace!
–
but there is no peace …. Our brethren are already in the field! Why
stand
we
here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is
life
so
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and
slavery?
Forbid
it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for
God has gifted you with birth so that you would lead His
people. Cowards cannot be effective Christians. Christians must again
dare to express their Christianity in the governance of their America.
This nation was founded upon the teaching of Jonathan
Edwards, the courage of George Washington and the Christianity of Jesus
Christ! The courageous one unsheathes the scriptural sword of naked
unvarnished truth – He refuses to trim his sails or reduce the meat of the doctrines
of grace to tickle the ears – He speaks and lives as though seeing Him who is
invisible – He pursues lions into their dens of iniquity so that the Holy
Spirit through him might restore all that the locusts have eaten.
Perhaps the most appropriate closing for this writing is
captured in a familiar song. Katharine Lee Bates’ America the Beautiful expresses
America’s dependence upon God in all four verses. She affirms the heart of your
nation’s indebtedness to the true Sovereign with such phrases as:
¨
God shed His grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea
to shining sea
¨
God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty
in law
¨
May God thy gold refine, till all success be nobleness, and every gain
divine
When Paul was in Athens, “his spirit was being provoked
within him as he was beholding the city full of idols” (Acts 17:16). Your
spirit is provoked by a nation filled with idols. What are you to do?
Engage the public square. Come to know the joy of being invested in the eternal
cause of Christ. Aim at God’s glory and you shall become the vehicle of the
Lord to reform a society and redeem a culture.
- Written by Det Bowers, June 22nd, 2016
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