Our country desperately needs a lot of prayer. In these deeply troubling days, we need help from God Almighty; we sorely need His wisdom. I join many other Christians who continue to ask Him for His help.  Meanwhile, today more than ever before, there are those in our country who are hell bent on completely overthrowing this country and what it truly stands for.

At the end of this short article you will find some quotes from our Founding Fathers. While haters of America seek to find any of their shortcomings, and thus denounce them all as bad, evil people, read their own words concerning their faith.

None of us is without faults. And who among us, at the end of our lives, or in future days, would like for people to note our faults or shortcomings, having only those to define us?

This weekend our country celebrates our freedom. Independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776, On July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration.

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 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.” But it is still the greatest nation on earth.

In an article by Norman Podhoretz, called, Is America Exceptional? he writes, “…more freedom and more prosperity to be enjoyed by more of its citizens than in any other society in human history. It follows that what liberals—who concentrate their attention on the relatively little that is wrong with America instead of the enormous good embodied within it—seek to change or discard is precisely what conservatives are dedicated to preserving, reinvigorating, and defending.”

He went on to talk about who could ever estimate the value to the world from this country over the last 100 years. Truly, where would the world be without the help and aid from the USA? The United States has spilled blood and treasure to liberate and protect many millions of people: World War I, World War II, Korea, then the cold war against communism, and since 9/11 we have spilled yet more blood and treasure fighting against radical Islamic terrorism. And economic aid continues to this day in the billions of dollars.

And who could ever measure the impact of the Gospel reaching out to other countries all over the world as a result of our freedoms in the USA?

I take great comfort knowing and believing the exceptional freedoms God gives to every born again believer, because of the completed work of Jesus Christ, far outweighs any freedoms granted by governments or institutions.  No government can ever undo or take away those freedoms. If this country as we know it fails, we must never lose sight that the freedom resulting from Christ’s completed work, is so much bigger than the freedom we have as US citizens. I will preach that message this Sunday.

Meanwhile, I am proud to be an American, and will celebrate it this weekend. And, again, I join many, many others praying for God’s help in these deeply troubled days. With God’s help, we can get through all the problems facing our nation.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land.
II Chronicles 7:14

Mike Verdicchio  July 2, 1010

Take a few moments to read some quotes you may not have heard…

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

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

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

It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.
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

Previous Independence Day Posts:

Independence Day 1019

Independence Day 2018

Remembering Our Independence