Independence Day 2024!

This year, as we once again celebrate Independence Day, this post has a song,
an article,
and some quotes. 

The words for the song “America” (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) were written by Samuel Francis Smith in 1831, but the melody is much older and has been used for songs in many countries.

It was first sung in public on July 4, 1831, at a children’s concert at the Park Street Church, Boston, and published in 1832. In the video below, the song is sung by the United States Army Field Band. The words to the song are below this video. Enjoy!

America” (My Country ‘Tis of Thee
My country, ’tis of Thee,
Sweet Land of Liberty
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side
Let Freedom ring.
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.

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.

We Need God’s Help

Our country more than ever needs a lot of prayer. In these deeply divided and troubling days, we need help from God Almighty. I join many other Christians who continue to ask Him for His help. 

At the end of this short article you will find some quotes from our Founding Fathers. There are some haters of America that diligently seek to find any of their shortcomings, and then, denounce them as evil people, ignoring their love of God and their sacrifices.  

None of us, including the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, are without faults. And who among us, at the end of our lives, or in future days, would like for people to shout out our faults or shortcomings, having only those  define us?  That’s why I’ve included a few quotes after this article.

This Thursday, we here in the United States of America, celebrate our freedom. Independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration of Indepedence.

It is a time for celebration! John Adams wrote, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty; it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

What followed was a brutal 8 ½ year war with England. After the Revolutionary War ended, in 1783, before the official Constitution was finally ratified in 1791, The Bill of Rights was added – the first ten amendments. This was adopted to place specific limits on government power. It was seen as very necessary to safeguard individual liberty.

In later years, John Adams would write, “Posterity! you will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”

The United States is not and has not been a “perfect country.” We can, and we are still improving, “in order to form a perfect union.” With God’s help, and only with His help, the rampant ungodly ideologies permeating our society can be stopped. I encourage you to pray every day for our beloved country. With God’s help, we can get through all the problems facing our nation.
Mike Verdicchio 2024

Some quotes you may have not read…

While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.  George Washington

God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.  Thomas Jefferson

Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.  John Adams

Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.
John Hancock

Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshiped.
Benjamin Franklin

And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken to pieces, and the oppressed made free again; that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among nations may be overruled by promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all people everywhere willingly bow to the sceptre of Him who is Prince of Peace.
Samuel Adams

I do declare to the whole world that we believe the Scriptures to contain a declaration of the mind and will of God in and to those ages in which they were written; being given forth by the Holy Ghost moving in the hearts of holy men of God; that they ought also to be read, believed, and fulfilled in our day; being used for reproof and instruction, that the man of God may be perfect. They are a declaration and testimony of heavenly things themselves, and, as such, we carry a high respect for them. We accept them as the words of God Himself.
William Penn

The Bible … is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.
Patrick Henry

By conveying the Bible to people thus circumstanced, we certainly do them a most interesting kindness. We thereby enable them to learn that man was originally created and placed in a state of happiness, but, becoming disobedient, was subjected to the degradation and evils which he and his posterity have since experienced. The Bible will also inform them that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; that this Redeemer has made atonement ‘for the sins of the whole world,’ and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits are of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve.
John Jay

And here’s one from a Founding Father’s son, who was the sixth president of the United States.

The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made ‘bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God’ (Isaiah 52:10).
John Quincy Adams