God and Country

 

Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”

 

September 17-23 is US Constitution week. In the founding of this sovereign nation, the unity was established as one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all, within the context of holiness and righteousness; the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America. 

 

When the framers of the US Constitution used the term “religion,” as in the First Amendment, they were referring to the Protestant denominations of Christianity. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin was the elder statesman (81 years old) at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia. There, he urged the Assembly toward daily prayer to seek guidance from “the Father of Lights.” In doing so, he said this: “I have lived a long time, 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 [referencing Jesus Christ’s proclamation in Matthew 10:29-31], is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?” The US Constitution was “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.” 

 

Did you know that 34% of the U.S. Constitution contains biblical citations? Along with numerous writings of the Founding Fathers on this nation’s Christian foundations, the Supreme Court of the United States of America – Holy Trinity Church v. U.S. on February 29, 1892 decision concluded, "These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."  

Patriotism is defined in the 1828 Weber’s dictionary as: Love of one's country; the passion which aims to serve one's country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity. Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen. 

 

Providence is defined as: the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. The 1828 Weber’s dictionary declares that anyone that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves themselves in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in Divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is understood God himself.

 

Patriotism and Nationalism are strong pillars of national consciousness when they stand upon the solid foundation of the love of God, knowing as Psalm 113:4 proclaims: “The Lord is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.” God and Country!

 

In God We Trust and In Christ We Follow; God Bless America!

Brian