Happy Fourth

The following is from our pastor at Rivertree, Greg Nettle. I loved this piece that he wrote and wanted to share it with anybody who reads this. Enjoy!

Happy Freedom Day America
Have you ever considered what it meant for those 56 men--an eclectic group of ministers, businessmen, teachers, university professors, sailors, captains, farmers--to sign the Declaration of Independence? This was a contract that began with the reasons for the separation from Great Britain and closed in the final paragraph stating "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Dr. Benjamin Rush, the father of American Medicine and a signer, recorded that historical day in his journal. In 1781 he wrote to John Adams, "Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the House when we were called up, one after another, to the table of the President of the Congress to subscribe to what was believed by many at that time to be our death warrants?"

Those 56 men, willing to risk their lives for freedom, ensured the freedoms that you and I enjoy today. And yet those very freedoms are perhaps more in jeopardy today than at any other time in history.

In 1962 public prayer was removed from the classroom. In 1963 public Bible study was removed from the public school system. In 1980 the 10 commandments were removed from school walls. The court system said that if the 10 commandments were posted on the walls of a classroom, a student might read them and then meditate on them and then be lead to obey them. And that is unconstitutional. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Incidentally, for something to be considered unconstitutional means that it would have been opposed by our Founding Fathers.

Since 1963, teenage pregnancies have increased by 553%. The divorce rate has increased by 117%. Violent crimes have increased by 544%.

Consider these statements:

If there is anything in my thoughts or style to commend, the credit is due to my parents for instilling in me an early love of the Scriptures. --Daniel Webster

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. --Patrick Henry

The highest story of the American Revolution is this: It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. --John Adams

The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests. --Andrew Jackson

We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us . . . to govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded. --James Madison

It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible. --George Washington

The United States of America has existed for more than 200 years in its original form of government based on the Constitution. In comparison, in 200 years, France has had seven different forms of government. Italy is in its 48th form of government. The Soviet Union, under a Communist form of government, disintegrated. How has our nation remained so strong? Secular historians have concluded that our Constitution was derived primarily from the truth of the Bible!

America was founded not on the belief that she was blessed because God chose her but that she was blessed because she chose God. And that when we quit choosing God, we will cease to enjoy God's blessings.

If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophy may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity. --Daniel Webster

"What joy for the nation whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 33:12)