Keeping Perspective on the 4th of July
So much of our life depends on keeping things in perspective.
If you have a terminal disease, reminding yourself of the joys of eternal life is a desperately needed life-preserver (if you are in right relationship with God through Christ). It makes the pain bearable. For the rest of us, it’s important to keep in perspective the “half full cup” of the blessings of life rather than dwell daily on the “half empty plate” we all experience.”
Perspective is vital.
I remember the last basketball game of my high school career. After riding a fourteen game winning streak into the final eight of the state tournament, we got slaughtered by forty points! As I stood on the floor to accept the consolation trophy–my three year dream of a state championship shattered–God quietly reminded me it was only a game. That “perspective” helped me move on into the more important events of my life.
To help you celebrate America’s Independence Day this year, there are a number of things to keep in perspective to fill the holiday with meaning. The 4th of July is much more than a day off work, a barbecue with friends and family, and fireworks in the evening.
The 4th of July is meaningful because of five things that are essential to it:
- God – the day has no significance outside of His actions in United States history.
- The Bible – the true source of our American concept of liberty.
- The Declaration of Independence – our corporate “charter” as a people.
- The US Constitution – the political document that created a faith-based government.
- Freedom – which is the fruit of obedience to God.
Let’s examine these five pillars of America’s Independence Day.
God
There is no understanding the 4th of July outside of faith in God and his sovereignty. Thomas Jefferson, probably one of the least religious of our founding fathers was dead on when he said “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be sure once we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?” The resounding answer is NO.
The God of the Universe “favored the undertaking” of the Pilgrims, established Christian self-government in many of the early colonies, led the colonial founders to resist and defeat tyranny from Great Britain–and worked many miracles (including George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware) to allow the United States to become a uniquely established nation on Christian principles of government. As opposed to the atheistic and bloody French Revolution, the American Revolution was a revolution in biblical principles that God Himself providentially empowered.
There is no understanding American Independence without faith in God. He is its true Author.
The Bible
America’s foundations as a two-hundred-and thirty-four year civilization–still young by historical standards–cannot be understood outside of its founding book–the Bible. It was the most read book in the America colonies. It was published by the government during the War for Independence. American pioneers and frontiersmen were known to carve out new territories with “the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.”
George Washington, the father of our nation, said these poignant words about the Bible in his farewell address to the nation in 1796: “It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
Two decades ago, Constitutional scholars and political historians at Georgetown University assembled 15,000 writings from the Founding Era (1760-1805). They counted 3154 citations in these writings, and found that the book most frequently cited in that literature was the Bible. The writers from the Foundering Era quoted from the Bible 34 percent of the time. Even more interesting was that about three-fourths of all references to the Bible came from reprinted sermons from that era.
America’s freedom had one primary handbook–the Bible. We need to its eternal wisdom.
This amazing document–whose signing and ratification we celebrate on the 4th of July–is really the founding charter of the American national experience. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, with help from John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman, it begins with these immortal words:
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
It ends with this almost holy vow:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Read these vital words out-loud during your 4th of July gathering. Discuss their contents and meditate upon their meaning. Then “mutually pledge” your own lives for the rebirth of freedom in our land.
The US Constitution
There is rightfully much talk about the Constitution in our day. During the Elena Kagan hearings, the subject will be continually brought up as the senators determine whether Ms. Kagan will be a strict constitutionalist or a liberal judicial activist.
The US Constitution is really the political expression of Christian principles. It is America’s handbook for Christian self-government that, according to W. Cleon Skousen, was The 5,000 Year Leap in bringing freedom and dignity to human society. Skousen quotes many founders on the beauty and efficacy of the United States Constitution:
George Washington: “The adoption of the Constitution will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it…The Constitution approaches nearer to perfection than any government hitherto instituted among men.”
Benjamin Franklin: “The Constitution was in some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omniscient, and beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and move and have their being” (a quote from Acts 17:28).
John Adams – “The Constitution is the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen…I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the Constitution…What other form of government can so well deserve our esteem and love?”
Benjamin Rush – “the hand of God was employed in this work (ratifying the Constitution) as that God had divided the Red Sea to give passage to the children of Israel or had fulminated the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.”
James Madison –The happy union of these states is a wonder; their Constitution is a miracle; their example the hope of liberty throughout the world. Woe to the ambition that would meditate the destruction of either!” Happily for America, happily we trust for the whole human race, the founders of the nation pursued a new and more noble course. They accomplished a revolution that has no parallel in the annals of human society…They formed the design of a great confederacy which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate.”
If you don’t have a pocket “Constitution” to study, get one. Ponder it’s simplicity and beauty (it’s not a 2000 page Congressional bill monstrosity), and commit to “improve and perpetuate it.”
Freedom
The biblical reference inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia which was well known to the early American colonists was Leviticus 25:10:
“Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live there. It will be a jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan” (New Living Translation).
Here’s how our ancestors viewed the often-distorted definition of freedom. When one submits to God through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit produces freedom in the human heart which leads to morality, self-government (self-control), and thus limited civil government to manage human affairs.
This biblical equation of success made the United States an exceptional nation: God, Freedom. Morality. Strong families. Hard work. Small government. Blessing, security and prosperity.
Sadly, in our day, the American equation is being perverted to: Removal of God. Pessimism. Immorality. Dysfunctional families. Welfare. Big Government. Problems, National weakness, recession, and a falling standard of living.
There needs to be a rebirth of freedom in America again that is trumpeted to the ends of the earth.
This Independence Day, don’t just sit around eating hotdogs and watching the fireworks. Keep these five pillars in mind, and establish them in your perspective on the day. Here’s a final summary:
1. Worship God! (not America, the Declaration, the Constitution etc.).
2. Read and obey the Good Book.
3. Be grateful for our magnificent Declaration.
4. Honor and adhere to the Constitution in your citizenship practices.
5. Live and die for true freedom, not encroaching tyranny, in our generation.
Happy Fourth of July.
The Way Up is Down – Call 2 Fall – July 4th, 2010
The American nation–and the world as a whole–is desperately trying to pull itself up from a debilitating recession, an unending oil spill, and other woes.
Sometimes the way up is down…on our knees.
On July 4, 2010 the second annual Call 2 Fall event will point us the right direction. The greatest need of our time is to fall on our knees, confess our rebellion and sin against a holy and loving God, turn from our self-centered and apathetic ways and rebuild our homes, neighborhoods and societies upon the proven principles of His Word.
I’m excited to again invite you to participate in this year’s Call 2 Fall. This is the second year that Tony Perkins, the head of Family Research Council has called the Body of Christ in America to set aside time on Sunday, July 4, to humble themselves before God by praying on their knees. There’s nothing magical about kneeling. It’s just a good reminder of how sinful we are before a Righteous God and how dependent we are upon Him for renewal in our hearts and reformation and hope in our nation.
July 4 is on Sunday this year. Wouldn’t it be great if millions of believers went to their houses of worship on Saturday night or Sunday morning and fell our their faces to repent of sin and express their utter dependency on God? The remainder of the could be spent with family and friends celebrating our Independence as a nation.
First, repentance and expressing dependence on God.
Second, faith and celebration of our independence from tyranny.
Right now there are over 275,000 churches and individuals that are committed to be a part of the Call 2 Fall. If you’re not already one of them, go to the Call 2 Fall web-site right now and sign up.
The Call 2 Fall is nothing fancy. No slick program. No big production. Just setting aside a definite time during worship on July 4, 2010 when people get on their knees and faces before the Lord in repentant prayer for God to reshape their lives and renew our land. There are multiplied millions of believers who realize that America is in trouble and that neither Washington nor Wall Street has the answers. We are hoping that at least 40,000 churches will join in a corporate act of humility, repentance, and desperate prayer on our knees before the Lord.
“Call 2 Fall” on our knees will be happening in the many places Christians meet on Sunday, July 4. We realize that the church gathers in worship centers, store-fronts, homes, and various other places all across America. We are calling believers to kneel at least 3 to 5 minutes before the Lord wherever they may gather that day, Sunday, July 4, 2010. Why that Sunday? Because on the day we celebrate our “Independence,” we should also express our “Dependence” upon the Lord. Throughout this special day, we encourage believers to spend time on their knees in crying out to God to heal our souls and our land.
Why is there a necessity for a Call 2 Fall? First, the Scriptures teach it. The key verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14: “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” The first requirement on the path to renewal is to “humble ourselves,” to fall on our knees and faces before the Lord in repentant prayer. Over and over the Scriptures teach this.
Second, our history records it. Our founding fathers sensed the need for a “Call 2 Fall” in view of the monumental struggle we were engaged in with Britain. The First Continental Congress called for a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer throughout the Colonies on July 20th, 1775 just after war broke out. James Warren wrote Samuel Adams: “Three millions of people on their knees at once, supplicating the aid of Heaven, is a striking circumstance, and a very singular one in America . May the blessings of Heaven follow in answer to our prayers…”
In addition, colonial America and the early years of our republic experienced what observers have called Great Awakenings, which began with God’s people humbling themselves in repentant prayer and led to others becoming followers of Christ.
Third, our nation needs it. Ponder the past decade. From 9/11 to war to natural disasters to financial and moral collapse, we are witnessing what happens when a nation turns away from God. In view of the monumental challenges of our times, do we not find ourselves in a similar situation as that of ancient Israel and early America? Consequently, we are sensing the need to return to simple but powerful truths like:
God is sovereign. He is holy and He is love. We are sinners. We are saved from His severity of His wrath toward sin only by the fierceness of His love in Christ. When we drift away in disobedience, we experience His discipline. His judgments are just. The pathway back must begin with:
- A humility and brokenness before the Lord.
- A desperation to find the face of God.
- A heart cry for the mercy of God.
- A desire to turn from our sinful ways.
- A resolve to return to the ways of God.
- This is what the ancient words of Scripture are calling us to do when we speak of a “Call 2 Fall.”
I finished a Masters thesis in May and it contains another description of a “Call 2 Fall” in 1857 that brought a great revival to America during the Civil War. Here is the brief story:
“One of the most unusual prayer movements of the period was the lay-led “noon prayer meetings” that helped ignite the Great Revival of 1857. The man most credited with this prayer revival was Jeremiah Lanphier, a New York merchant.
On September 23, 1857, Lanphier climbed creaking stairs to the third story of an old church building on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan and sat down to wait. He’d place a sign on the street below that read “Prayer Meeting from 12 to 1 o’clock—Stop 5, 10, or 20 minutes, or the whole hour as your time admits.” For months few had joined him. This particular week, six people eventually trudged in. The following week twenty had gathered to pray, and the next week—forty.
On October 14, 1857 the nation was staggered by the worst financial panic in its history. Banks closed, men were out of work, and families went hungry. In a few short weeks, the Fulton Street Prayer Meeting had taken over the whole building with crowds of more than 3,000. Within six months, 10,000 businessmen (out of a population of 800,000) were gathering daily in New York City for prayer.
The revival of prayer soon jumped the Atlantic Ocean and spread across the United States, impacting most of the major cities in the nation. After a number of years, and continuing during the American Civil War, it is estimated that more than one million people came to Christ including 43,388 Southern Methodists, 135,517 Northern Methodists, and 92,243 Baptists. This particular prayer movement was mostly led by laymen, not clergy, and certainly formed the backdrop of the large missionary surge that went around the world in the coming decades.”
I personally feel that a major financial downturn or double-dip recession is very likely in the not-so-distant future. Why? Because as Abraham Lincoln so wisely said during those difficult Civil War years:
“We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Those words were uttered by our nation’s greatest president to ask the people of America to fall on their knees in prayer and humiliation on April 30, 1963. God heard their prayers and brought victory and blessing to our nation.
July 4, 2010 is our day–our time. Will you go to your knees in prayer? Will you mobilize your church to participate in national repentance and renewal?
Sometimes the way up is down.
May this Independence Day 2010 become a new beginning of faith and freedom in the United States and all over the world.
What Can We Learn From the BP Oil Spill?
The one-to-two million gallons of crude oil (and natural gas) that have been leaking steadily into the Gulf of Mexico for the past fifty days are certainly a sobering environmental tragedy. The horrific explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform on April 22 is now estimated to be six times times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill. Much sea-life and shoreline are at stake and thousands of jobs and economic recovery hang in balance.
I have been following the BP Oil Spill from the beginning and trying to make some sense of it. I’ve also joined the many people that have been praying for the peoples of the Gulf–that God would show them what to do to deal with this man-made disaster and its possible long-range effects on their lives.
There are a number of important lessons that are emerging from the catastrophe. I will share ten of them in relative order of importance (with “10” being the least and “1” being the most important lesson that can be learned). All of them are important.
#10 – Mistakes happen in a fallen world.
No company–including British Petroleum-should be held to an impossible standard. There is no such thing as perfection in a fallen world–just improvement. As long as man inhabits a fallen world, there will be times of disaster such as this one. There are few victories in life without risk and potential danger. But they are worth pursuing with an eye on human progress–and our sights should remain high. Let’s just learn from the mistakes and vow to not make them again.
#9 – British Petroleum must held accountable. BP is responsible for the disaster.
Under present regulations, BP could be liable up to $1100 dollars a spilled gallon or 2.8 billion dollars. If criminal intent is found, the fine could be astronomical. Make British Petroleum pay for their mistake, but don’t punish them in such a way that they can’t continue to be profitable to be able to pay their debt back to the Gulf States. The six month moratorium on Gulf drilling is a bad deal–both for the energy industry and for many other dependent jobs in the area.
#8 – Good regulations and contingency plans are vital – follow them!
The Federal Government failed in its regulatory duties by giving dubious awards to the BP rig that exploded and by failing to implement a stenuous emergency plan that had been pre-approved. BP also lacked strong emergency plan measures (and delayed that plan twelve days after the disaster) that could have contained the extent of the oil slick damage. There is a place for good regulations–especially when risky ventures are taking place.
There are also some ingenious and creative clean-up plans run by enterprising Americans and even some foreign governments that both BP and the Federal Government are not allowing to be used in the massive clean-up effort. If there should be a moratorium on anything, it’s bureacratic red tape. Nothing could be worse than the oil being left to defile the beaches and eco-systems of the Gulf region.
#7 – Bad energy policy led to risky drilling. This is the Federal Government’s fault.
The main reason for this gigantic mess is that due to bad energy policies that have prohibited oil companies from drilling in many states, and in shallower waters, British Petroleum and other companies have been forced into deep waters where there is a much higher degree of uncontrollable circumstances. If this had been an oil-shale well in Wyoming, it would have been capped immediately. If it have been an explosion in Prudoe Bay, the fix would have been quick and the environmental damage limited due to its distance from civilization.
BP was drilling at 5000 feet below sea-level because our unwise politicians have not let them drill where it’s safer and better. It’s time to stop the nonsense about energy drilling and exploration in the fifty states and shallow waters off both coasts. Both can be done safely and effectively if we have the political will to do what’s right.
#6 – We should begin drilling in ANWAR immediately. The best defense is a good offense.
There is no logical reason whatsoever that we should not be drilling vast amounts of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve (ANWAR)–and the remedy should be started immediately. We have a vast reserve of oil and natural gas at our disposal in Alaska in an area that poses little environmental danger. It’s time to stop being politically correct and drill the wells and turn on the spigots in ANWAR as soon as possible.
#5 – Oil is essential to the modern world and should not be phased out.
Bikes and sneakers have petroleum products in them. Deodorant comes from oil and gas. Milkshakes have a chemical based thickener. Oil is everywhere. It’s in carpet, furniture, computers and clothing. It’s in the most personal of products like toothpaste, shaving cream, lipstick and vitamin capsules. Petro-chemicals are the glue of our lives–even in glue, too.
“It’s the material basis of our society essentials” says Michael Wilson, a research scientist at UC Berkeley. “This is the Petro-chemical Age.” 93% of American plastics start with natural gas or oil. Why? Because the element essential for life–carbon–is found there. The carbon atom acts as the spine with other atoms attaching to it in different combinations and positions. This makes it indispensable for modern life and production.
#4 – We must unleash safe energy independence production in all fifty states and in shallow waters.
There has been a growing “conspiracy” in this country for over thirty years to restrain the United States from becoming energy independent. This insanity can be blamed on the radical extremes of the environmental movement and its political allies. The results of this have been disastrous–and the Gulf Oil Spill only makes us more vulnerable to sky-rocketing prices due to shortages and bad policy.
“Renewable sources” cannot save us–at least not in the next fifty years. We can’t power our vehicles or civilization on wind and solar power. That is a pipe-dream that needs to be openly confronted. We need to unleash the best of industry to drill oil and natural gas wells in our states and waters; to build nuclear reactors such as exist in France; to allow new techniques of oil-shale extraction to be implemented; to create new and better batteries; in short, to unleash a “Manhattan Project-style” explosion of all energy source solutions to curtail the forced dependency of America on foreign oil. It’s both crippling and nationally suicidal. Let’s Unleash, Baby Unleash!
#3 – The Federal Government is a lousy savior.
Both Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill proved the ineptness of the Federal Government to solve large problems. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, even though we had a strong leader in President Bush, the federal response was weak and late. The best work was done by local governments and private organizations and individuals. In the BP Oil Spill, the fact that Barack Obama is a politician and not really a leader added massive paralysis to the expected federal response.
Here’s the lesson: Governments are good at protecting their citizens in war, but they are lousy at most everything else they do. In this case and also in Katrina, the Federal Government should have made resources available immediately and then gotten out of the way of the local leaders and enterprising non-profits and individuals. “The era of Big Government is over.”
#2 – The EPA should be abolished or severely curtailed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the worst federal entities in America. It serves no useful purpose except to retard business, innovation, and progress in America. It was created by President Nixon in 1970 and has been a curse ever since. Interesting, the first Earth Day during its inaugural year was scheduled on the centennial of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday– April 22, 1970. That little known fact tells you a great deal about the goals of the environmental extremists.
Adding insult to injury on American prosperity, the EPA has recently been instructed by the Obama administration to put draconian carbon emission restraints on American business and consumers–bypassing the difficult-to-pass Cap and Trade legislation that has stalled in Congress. This would be a huge mistake, and must be stopped by our current legislators.
Let’s go a step further and abolish the EPA. Talk about a new “morning in America!”
#1 – We must vote for pro-energy-independence leaders in 2010 and 2012
There is no way to recover from the BP disaster and become an energy independent America without getting rid of the anti-development leaders that now control Congress and the White House. The American Dream and destiny is under siege from those who would reduce us to mediocrity and poverty through unwise energy development and restrictions.
We must free ourselves from the energy slave masters and create a boom of energy invention, development, production, and independence in this nation.
In 2010, vote for congressmen and women and senators that understand that modern society is based on oil and that its potential must be unleashed.
In 2012, vote for a free enterprise-savvy president who understands the respective roles of business and government, and frees both of them to do their very best for the American people.