Title: The Battle for the Soul of America
Bible Book: Joshua 24 : 15
Author: William F. Harrell
Subject: America; Independence Day; Trust in God
Objective:
Introduction
When the Continental Congress was about to meet, John Adams reported that a member of the Congress proposed that the Congress should open with prayer. Another member objected that the Assembly was divided in its religious sentiments, some were Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians and some Congregationalists.
In reply, Samuel Adams arose and said that he was no bigot and could hear a prayer from any gentleman of piety and virtue who was at the same time a friend of his Country. Adams indicated that he was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that Rev. Jacob Duche, a local Episcopalian, fit that character. Adams moved that Mr. Duche should lead the prayer. Bear in mind the members had just received reports of a British attack in Boston and each member had reason to fear for his very life.
The following morning, September 7, 1774, after reading the thirty-fifth Psalm, Rev. Duche delivered the following prayer, the first prayer ever delivered in Congress: "Be thou present O God of Wisdom and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly. Enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored and the Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety prevail and flourish among the people. Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds. Shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to come. All this we seek in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior, Amen."
From our very earliest documents it is quite clear that this country was founded by Christian people for the propagation of the Christian Gospel. It is clearly stated in the Mayflower Compact written in 1620 when it says: "Having undertaken for the Glory of God and for the advancement of the Christian faith"....The Declaration of Independence says: "When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Natures' God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause which impels them to the separation." In the summation of that same document we find these words: "We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress, assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions...." Further along in the same paragraph it says...." And for the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
"There is a battle on today for the Soul of America. Satan knows that if he is to destroy you, he must possess your soul and he knows the same about America. If he can gain her soul, then he will have her. It is sad to say, but Satan is very close to gaining the soul of our great country and we are letting it happen. That are some of the elements of the Battle for the Soul of America which we need to resist very strongly in the Lord's Strength?
I. The Silencing of the People of Faith
Much of the blame for our national condition must be laid at the doorstep of the church. In many ways, the church has abdicated the throne of leadership in America. This happened in Europe and the results have been devastating for those countries and their people. For years the preachers of God's Word have been expected to sit back and say nothing about political affairs. The secularists and the humanists have even convinced God's people that their religion should not be brought into the political or social arena. I submit to you that that is the main reason that humanism is now a powerful religion in itself in this country. We have failed to listen to God and we have really made a mess of things. Biblical examples of God's Men speaking in political circles: Joseph dealt with Potiphar, Moses stood before Pharaoh, Elijah challenged Ahab, Daniel warned Belshazzar, Nathan chastised David, John the Baptist condemned Herod Antipas, Peter and John dealt with Jewish leaders...John... has been given the secrets of the political, military and spiritual setting at the end of time. Jesus Himself....denounced the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders who controlled much of the politics of the day. Today the ACLU and other liberal agendas want to eradicate religion from the American scene. Don't be fooled, that is their ultimate goal. In the meantime, they will try to neutralize the effect of religion by convincing people that it does not belong in the national arena.
II. The Secularism of the Society
Instilling of Secularism as the dominant cultural model is their goal and they run behind the First Amendment in order to try to do this. The First Amendment says...."Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." They try to silence us, put us on the shelf, and render us useless by using this amendment. They do not want to simply limit religion in America, they want to eliminate it from the public arena. Nothing could be further from the intentions of the framers of the constitution. The First Amendment was to protect religious freedom, not take it out of American life. So, they want to silence the preachers; remove God from the scene - neutralize the church because they know that if the Church is strong, if the preachers are bold and if the people are informed, they will have a hard time reaching their goals.
I don't think I have ever seen a more pathetic ruling from a court than the one handed down this past week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional based on the First Amendment because it contains the words "under God". Judge (and I use the term loosely) Alfred T. Goodwin ought to be ashamed of himself. He must be because he has now stayed his own decision. Was it based on law or social pressure? Was it social engineering? I was quoted in the paper this week, but as is often the case, the whole quote was not in there. In addition to what was in the paper, I said: "It is ludicrous for Judges such as those on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, to be involved in social engineering instead of interpreting the letter of the law.
The last time I checked, the majority is supposed to rule in America and that should settle the issue. If there are those who don't want to say the pledge of Allegiance because of those "dangerous words", Under God, then simply don't say it or maybe they need to find another place to live where they want feel so repressed. I am sick and tired of liberal, politically correct judges who render such asinine rulings as presented by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Their ruling states that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the words "under God" violates the First Amendment and the separation of church and state. Anyone who has no more sense than that ought to be removed from the bench immediately."
I was encouraged by the Senate's vote of 99-0 condemning the ruling and by the House of Representative's Resolution 459 doing the same thing. The vote was 416 to 3 with 11 members voting "present" and five not voting. Those with not enough intestinal fortitude to vote should not be reelected.
So here is the new "politically correct pledge" as I saw in the Augusta Chronicle yesterday. "I may or may not pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the oppressive, Euro- centric concepts for which it stands, one nation, under no religious affiliations whatsoever, indivisibly politically correct, with liberty and justice for the elite few who can afford it..." and then the kid in the cartoon said, "I miss the old pledge." I haven't agreed with much that Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia has done, but I do agree with him when he suggested that anyone with a problem with the presence of religion in America should leave the country.
III. The Destroying of the Moral Fabric of America
John Quincy Adams said this: "We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion - Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." One of our problems is that our constitution was penned by Christians and religious people and is being interpreted today by secularists.
They have to stretch it to make it say what they want it to say. Recently on television a young woman's commercial about a birth control pill - The pill not only relieved her worry about pregnancy, it also was very helpful to her complexion. A new survey reveals that teenagers are now drinking more and taking more cocaine but it goes on to say that they are smoking less and refusing to ride in a car with an intoxicated driver - now, I think that is very noble don't you?
Recently, Nickelodeon, the children's television channel, aired a program which was nothing more than an attempt to make children think that homosexuality was normal. Why was this even approached on a children's channel? And, why is Rosie O'Donnell suddenly such an icon of what is right and proper? Because she declared herself to be a lesbian on a national television show and why was her sexual orientation of such importance?
Recently the Salvation Army of Portland, Maine lost $60,000 in local government funds for refusing to provide healthcare benefits to the domestic partners of homosexuals even though they don't provide the same for the domestic partners of heterosexual workers.
Do you see some agenda here? Remember this: Ungodly people led by ungodly leaders will do ungodly things. When morality is tied to whatever is socially acceptable then society is in trouble. When whatever is socially acceptable is tied to proper morality then society will be preserved. As legislation is passed on issues such as this the elected officials should ask this question: "Can I stand before God, who knows all truth and defend my position on a matter so that He would agree with me?" Satan knows that if he can deconstruct the morals of a Godly nation he can bring it to nothing and destroy it and its witness of God's blessings.
IV. The Destroying of our National Identity and Heritage
There is a book recently released by Patrick Buchannan. Now regardless of how you feel about him as a political candidate, he is right concerning what is in his book, The Death of the West. One reason I know it is a good book is that the liberals hate it. But, it is telling the truth about what is happening to Europe, the United States and other parts of the world. In short, we are becoming a hodge-podge of peoples and cultures, which do not plan to adopt our way of life and culture because we are too politically correct to make them do so. Every nation which has lost its national identity has ceased to exist.
Europe is now virtually an extension of many cultures. The Arabic culture is virtually taking over Europe. We are allowing too many people to come into this country, especially the illegal aliens, and we are not seeing to it that they adopt English or any other part of our culture. As Patrick Buchannan points out, soon we will cease to have a definitive national culture. We will be a conglomeration of peoples who will owe no loyalty to the union we call the United States.
Recently, I was sent this from someone by e-mail: Immigrants, not Americans, must adapt. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11th, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Americans. However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to America. Our population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants. However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of America being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!
"In God we Trust" is our national motto. This is not some Christian, right wing, political slogan. We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture. If Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle.
Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion and we will all allow you every opportunity to do so. But, once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way of life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great American freedom, The Right to Leave. It is high time that Americans took charge again and demanded that our leaders change some things going on in this country. We have become so consumed with our freedoms that we have put ourselves in bondage. We are about to lose the Battle for the Soul of America and we had better stand up and fight the fight. If we don't wake up, there will come a day a few hundred years from now when someone, some teacher will say to her students when discussing America: "And then there was the United States of America. A great nation. In fact, the most powerful the world had ever seen. Much more powerful and wealthy than Rome or Greece or England or any other group of nations.
But, like all the other great nations she fell from within, her core became rotten and the mighty oak fell. There will never be another like America and it seems impossible that she could come to nothing as she did.
If you want to read about a great people, go read the history books about the United States. Then, students, make sure you don't allow anyone to win the Battle for the Soul of your country. May God grant it that we will wake up and that we will find within ourselves the intestinal fortitude to do those things which are necessary to see that our nation survives and prospers.
