Founders’ Keepers

Tomorrow, our nation turns 234 years old. Still pretty young when you consider the age of the earth and of other nations. Although we don’t currently have a president who respects our nation, its people and our traditions, I believe there are still good and prosperous days ahead for America.

It’s going to take hard work, dedication, prayer and repentance on the part of all of us, especially those who call ourselves Christians. In the Old Testament, God said, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” [Emphasis mine]

Most polls indicate that for whatever reason, a majority of Americans feel the nation is headed in the wrong direction. Depending on their political and spiritual viewpoint, there are many reasons people would give as to why they think so. My own belief is that we as a nation have turned so far from the foundations of freedom and success that our founders built the nation upon. These people of the founding generation were inspired by God to begin the building of a nation that would be a nation of people free to worship, to pursue their own livelihood and to govern themselves through elected representatives. They believed that these rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (originally was the right to property), were “inalienable”. My dictionary says “inalienable” means “incapable of being alienated, surrendered or transferred”. Therefore, in the founders’ minds, it was just common sense that these basic rights were God-given…we were born with them, and no one could take them away. We could, however, surrender them willingly.

Through the leaders we have chosen, we’ve been chipping away at our own freedoms day by day, giving those that would see themselves as better than us more control over the simplest things (what kind of light bulbs to use) and the most personal (our health care). We are so highly regulated that many of us don’t even realize it. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would be turning in their graves to know that our government is involved in determining how much water pressure should flow through our toilets and shower heads! (That’s just one of many examples of their over-reaching hand).

The Founders’ must be disappointed in this generation, but hopefully they’re praying for us to remember where we came from and fight for our freedom in order to preserve it for future generations, as they did for us when they pledged their “lives, fortunes and sacred honor” by putting their names to that great old document which declared our independence to the world.

If we, who call ourselves Christians, refuse to become engaged in the issues of the day because “God is in control”, what excuse will we have when we stand before Him and He asks us what we did with the freedom He blessed us with? Did we use it to spread His name and His message and these ideals of liberty to the nations? Or, did we allow the freedom He gave us through the generations before us to slip through our fingers in the name of political correctness, wanting to be loved by the world, or just plain laziness and apathy? Much is expected of those to whom much has been given. If we had the privilege to be born here, or have chosen to make this beautiful United States of America as our home, we have a responsibility. It’s now our turn to restore (not transform) our nation by getting back to the basics of faith, family, freedom and a strong work ethic. America may be down, but she’s not out, and God isn’t finished with her yet.