Letter: America’s Godly Heritage

Recently I received news that a dear friend, a brother in Christ, had gone home to be with the Lord. Much of his life could be described in one word, “Suffering”.

He was one who could identify with the person of Job in the Bible. The loss of his only two children. Both he and his wife diagnosed with cancer and hundreds of visits to the doctors office for years before their deaths.

Often we think of grief in the context of death. But people experience grief for many reasons in this fallen sinful world. When I met Tom over 40 years ago I soon learned that he loved Jesus and that he loved America.

He loved his church denomination and the members within. He loved his Bible. He loved his Savior. He loved his country for what it stood for and against. But as the years passed his heart often “grieved” over the deterioration of the godly principles that many churches and we as a nation once embraced.

America has a Godly Heritage, and there is monumental evidence for this truth.

“The monuments of this country bear indelible testimony to our national faith in God. The cornerstone of our nation’s Capital was laid by George Washington himself. The Capitol building contains scores of sculptures and paintings that mostly have to do with the great Christians and events that took place in the founding of this country. One of them depicts Moses holding the two tablets of the law.”

America’s motto is “In God We Trust”. We use to say, “I pledge allegiance to the flag, one nation under God.” We see evidence of God in America’s beginning through the statements of individual founders, through its charters and covenants, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, but also in the inaugural addresses of all the presidents of the United States. It’s as if all these evidences are crying out in unison, “One nation under God.”

Our currency declares God’s glory. The Scriptures declare God’s glory. Our conscience declares that there is a transcendent God above us, although one’s conscience can be seared as with a hot iron (I Timothy 4:2). The Heavens declare God’s glory (Psalm 19). Archeology reveals God’s glory. The person and work of Jesus in history reveals God’s glory. Empirical science reveals God’s glory.

Today America has a full size replica of Noah’s Ark, an 800 million dollar “Museum of the Bible”, Creation museums, designated holidays that declare God’s glory, Good Friday, Easter, Christmas and Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation, the day we celebrate and give thanks to God for His bountiful provision.

Every coin or bill of currency has imprinted on it, “In God We Trust”. Let your money be a daily reminder of the God of our nation. To God be the glory.

Ted Roberts - Princeton