We’ve Got Issues—Like One Nation under…Who?

America the Beautiful

On July 4th, we celebrate the United States of America, not because she is perfect, but because she is our home. Despite her many failings she has been one Nation under God seeking to love our neighbors as Jesus commands. America provides more freedoms and more opportunity to men and women alike than any nation in history. America responds quicker than any other nation to help people in need, whether from famine, disease, or natural disasters. We are more generous toward other nations than most of the rest of the world—and not because our government hands out help—but because our citizens do. A 2017 report documents this well, saying:

The fact is, America is the most generous country on Earth,

and most of the giving is coming from individuals sharing their hard-earned dough. (1)

America, God shed His grace on thee

The reason for America’s generosity with freedom and charity is our devotion to God—a devotion which was the foundation of this country from its birth. Published on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence opens with the now famous line:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,

that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,

that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The Declaration also ends with a clear, intentional reference to God as “the Supreme Judge of the world.” While the phrase “under God” was not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until 1954, America was born a Nation under God with a constitution fit for a Christian people. John Adams, the second President of the United States, wrote:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People.

It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (2)

And crown thy good with… Secular Humanism?

America is generous and free, and its laws are just because of America’s Christian foundation. Yet, there are voices in America today demanding we separate church and state. They insist loudly that our country can and should be a secular country, with laws and ideologies divorced from our Christian heritage. What these voices fail to consider is that if America is not one Nation under God, it will be under some other “Supreme Judge.” Just as freedom from England meant our Nation was under the rule of another government, an America isolated from the church, the influence of Christianity and the rule of God as our highest Judge will be under a different authority, and it will not be one which CAN endow us with those certain unalienable Rights. 

If the state replaces the church as the moral compass of this land, then the religion which gave us the Constitution will be replaced with the Religion of Secularism—Evolution. Instead of a government founded on all men being created equal, we will be given one founded on natural selection, survival of the fittest, and Nature red in tooth and claw. A government of the people, by the people, for the people under God can and must see the brotherhood of mankind, made in the image of God and deserving of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. A government under the people alone will become the rule of mob and might, as it has in communist nations and barbaric states. In the place of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, we will have abortion, Political Correctness, and legalized narcotics. We will have death, oppression, and the pursuit of numbness. 

America, God mend thine every flaw

As we celebrate the birth of our nation, we may be fearful of the future, but let me encourage you NOT to be afraid. In John 16:33 Jesus says to his disciples, 

“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” 

Spiritual revivals have changed the world since Jesus rose from the tomb that first Easter morning, and the power of God can change our world still today. If we want to see a return to the America of our fathers, then of course we must be informed and vote wisely, but I would encourage all of us to start the revolution with reformation. We must stand against social ills and increasing wickedness, but before we do that, we must stand for the good news of the Gospel! 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16

The song “America the Beautiful” praises those heroes “Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life.” America needs such warriors today, to fight not with the weapons of this world, but armed with the sword of truth and the shield of faith (Ephesians 6: 10-18).  If you want to fight for this nation, then commit yourselves to pray for the lost and to share the Gospel with all of our brothers and sisters all across this land. Let us pray for our churches and our cities that we can be one church under God, spreading the Gospel to our country so that we can once again be one nation under God.  

Godonomics Session Six discusses the three primary ways of giving—two through coercion, and one from the grace of God.