ACKNOWLEDGING GOD
Acknowledging God is on my heart today in the wake of our national elections (as I write this) and a tumultuous campaign season. It brought to mind many quotes from our American founding fathers I thought I’d share with you in a spirit of gratefulness for His watch-care over us. In fact, my radio broadcast series in November was on the topic: “He is Our Nation Watcher.” (Saturdays at 8 a.m. on 91.5 FM, or on the Kingdom FM app; or go to markpg.org, click “Broadcasts,” Click “Portraits of God.”) And no matter your personal thoughts about the outcomes of the election, never lose sight of the fact that God’s got this and God’s got us! So . . .
While our founding fathers clearly prohibited “GodEstablishment” in the Constitution of the United States/Bill of Rights/ Amendment 1 that reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion (like was done in much of European history);” and they certainly did not endorse “God Exclusion” by also including this clause: “Congress… shall not prohibit the free exercise thereof;” they did, however, clearly practice the balanced middle ground of “God Acknowledgement” in much of their speech and writings in spite of their short-comings like all the rest of us. Here’s a peek:
The Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.” Benjamin Franklin. “I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs
I see of this truth– that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? . . . We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ . . . I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business.”
George Washington. “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and lover for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large.”
Thomas Jefferson. “I hold the precepts of Jesus, as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent, and sublime which have ever been preached to man.”
Abraham Lincoln. “We have been the recipient of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nations have ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own (Humanism).”
So, let’s continue to look up, waaay up, and be grateful, my friends, especially because none of us are perfect, our nation is not perfect, and leaders are not perfect, but God is! May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America! A great work still in progress! Grateful for His watch-care with you, Pastor Mark Articles, videos & podcasts: markpg.org. Write & share at [email protected]. Hear me every Sat., 8 a.m. on 91.5 FM.
