In the elementary school
’s library, waiting my turn to vote, I browsed a children’s book
on Thanksgiving. There were Pilgrims, Indians, turkeys, etc. I
found no mention of gratitude toward God. When you take God out of
anything, it dies.
In the elementary school’s library, waiting my turn to vote, I browsed a children’s book on Thanksgiving. There were Pilgrims, Indians, turkeys, etc. I found no mention of gratitude toward God. When you take God out of anything, it dies.
God has been taken out of our once great public education system by fiat. If it is true that, ‘The fear (reverence) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.’ It should follow that an irreverent education cannot produce a wise student. I believe that is the principle reason for the fact that home-schooled students consistently outscore their public-schooled peers.
In the 1843 preface to Neal’s History of the Puritans, John Overton Choules wrote, “We should never forget that the prison, the scaffold, and the stake were stages in the march of civil and religious liberty which our forefathers had to travel, in order that we might attain our present liberty.
“Before our children remove their religious connections before they leave the old paths of God’s Word, before they barter their birthright for a mess of pottage – let us place in their hands this chronicle of the glorious days of the suffering Churches, and let them know that they are the sons of men ‘of whom the world was not worthy’, and whose sacrifices for conscience’ sake are here monumentally recorded.”
Yes, America has a unique and magnificent birthright. Our awareness of that foundation and its significance has almost been blotted out of our national awareness. Early American custom included ‘election sermons’ wherein the newly elected officials would take a seat in the front pew to hear the local minister expound the principles of government outlined in the Bible. Today, there are many public places where the Bible is not welcome.
Separation of church and state is in my opinion a valid principle. Let us not confuse denominational human organizations called ‘church’ with God. Separation of God and state, is insanity. It was the God of the Bible who first created family (society’s building block), church (vertical relationship of families and God) and state (horizontal relationship of families and families). It was that same God who laid down the rules of operation for each organization.
Our nation, among all the nations of human history, is the first to have been purposely built upon that foundation. The results speak for themselves. That we remain so strong while righteous leaders and principles have been under long and viscous attack, speaks of the quality of our roots, not our current society.
Until our standards are raised sufficiently, we are unlikely to see leaders with sufficient ability to lead the nation back to her proper path. Without higher standards, I question whether we would rally to and follow such a leader anyway.
Considering how the hand of God has dealt with irreverent nations in history, makes one wonder that God’s wrath has not fallen on us. The answer rests, I believe, in two areas.
First: America has yet to reach the potential Providence appears to have placed within her. Second: There is a reverent core within our nation that is seeking God’s grace and provision. That core appears to me to be growing.
Today, we may certainly give thanks to God for His grace and provision in the very same way our American forefathers did at the first Thanksgiving celebration.
