Happy 4th Of July 2011 – Blessed Be Our God and Savior Jesus Christ

George Washington The Praying General at Valley Forge

What a joy to celebrate the great freedoms we now share on this 4th of July 2011! Amazing to discover that in the minds of early Patriots, the 4th of July signified a religious holiday like Christmas. To many of the followers of Jesus Christ, who by The Grace of Almighty God, had helped form this nation of ours, God who became Man had granted us freedom of knowing God and becoming like Christ; and the brave men and women who had sacrificed their lives for our freedom, had done so with their faith in God to grant us the gift by His Grace of a free nation.

On July 2, 1776, Congress approved complete separation from Great Britain.  On July 4th, John Hancock, President of Congress and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress, signed the early draft of The Declaration of Independence. On July 8th, the document was read aloud in Philadelphia when The Liberty Bell with the inscription from Lev. 25:10″ Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof” was rung.

The day Congress approved The Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to Abigail that this day ”ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” and he also foresaw us celebrating our independence by God’s Grace as he wrote: “This day will be the most memorable epic in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.”

Thanks to another fantastic article from David Barton, we discover from the annals of history, an amazing speech by John Quincy Adams whereby he asked: Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on the Fourth of July? His answer:

“Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”

According to John Quincy Adams, Christmas and the Fourth of July were intrinsically connected. On the Fourth of July, the Founders simply took the precepts of Christ which came into the world through His birth (Christmas) and incorporated those principles into civil government.

Once a muslim asked a Christian missionary named St. Cyril, why Christians did not just bow down to muslims when they were attacked since they are supposed to love their enemies? To which he responded most wisely: “If, in a certain law, there are two commandments that must be fulfilled, which man shall be more righteous, he who fulfills both commandments or he who fulfills only one of them?” The muslim answered: “He that fulfills both of course.” Then St. Cyril followed up: “As individuals we forgive our enemies, but as a community we lay down our lives for one another. For The LORD Jesus Christ has said that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s neighbor. As a community we protect one another and lay down our lives for one another. Not only is your aim to enslave us physically, you also aspire to enslave us spiritually. It is for this reason that we defend ourselves. This therefore is justified.”

A few months back, at a TEA Party event, a marine stood up and brought tears to our eyes as he reminded us of the importance of the last stanza of our national anthem. Here is one record of that momentous historical event:

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land

PRAISE THE POWER THAT HATH MADE AND PRESERVED US A NATION.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “IN GOD IS OUR TRUST!”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The bravery of the Patriots is revealed in the historical account of how we got our national anthem. After we had defeated the British and established our nation, we did not have the means to form a strong Navy. Muslim terrorists took advantage of our weakness and boarded our peaceful commerce ships, to brutally behead our men and take wife and children as slaves and hostages. To read more of that account, look up an eye opening article by Aisha Foda here: http://patriotstatesman.com/2011/05/remembering-the-first-american-military-warriors-who-fought-against-islamic-terrorists-from-1801-1805/

Subsequent to the wars with muslims overseas, The British thought us weak enough to begin to attack us once again. They began to attack us by land and sea. After having taken a fellow citizen and friend, hostage on board, Francis Scott Key went to negotiate for his release. While on board the ship, The British troops felt the stinging defeat at the hands of brave American Patriots when they tried to conquer Fort McHenry by land. They called in the most powerful Navy in the world at that time and gave an opportunity for American patriots to lower The United States Flag or face the full wrath of the British artillery. The Patriots would not surrender. The British Navy stayed off shore safely away from the range of our canons, and begin bombarding the Fort and aimed to bring down the flag. Men sacrificed their lives and held up the Flag, so when morning came and the smoke from the fierce bombing had settled, Francis Scott Key saw that The Great Flag of our nation was standing high. At which point , he began writing our national anthem:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?

Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:

‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out of their foul footsteps’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

NEVER FORGET THE PRICE THAT WAS PAID WHEN GOD BECAME MAN AND PROVIDED US THE MEANS FOR OUR SALVATION. NEVER FORGET THE PRICE THAT WAS PAID BY BRAVE PATRIOTS WHO BY GOD’S GRACE WERE ABLE TO GRANT US THE LIBERTIES WE NOW ENJOY!