MOTTO

Our forefathers and we have been shaped as a nation by Godly standards and principles and we are grateful to God for that.

I'm not suggesting all the founding fathers were awesome Christians.  They probably weren't.

I'm not arguing that all the founding fathers had spot-on theology.  History seems pretty clear they didn't.

I'm not arguing they all took the Bible seriously.  I don't believe they did.

That debate is for wiser minds than mine.  But I am arguing that there was a definite sense of personal accountability to a holy God that spilled over to their writings and their beliefs and ultimately to the nation's roots.  That would seem to logically be beyond dialogue.

Here's what we all learned in grade school.  It's from the Declaration of Independence:  'We hold these truths to be self-evident (that actually means we don't have to hold a big debate on this) that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ... '  The Declaration of Independence invokes the presence of God.  And down through the early years of our nation's history there was never an argument about whether or not we were accountable to the standards of God.  Everyone just got that.

In the Mayflower Compact of 1620, the first governing document of the original colonists at Plymouth:  'We whose names are underwritten, having undertaken, for the glorie of God and advancemente of the Christian faith ... a voyage to plant the first colony.'  Why did they come here?  For the advancement of Christianity.  Does that need a big debate based on what they wrote?

In one of the most memorable and powerful speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln in 1863:  'We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom.'  Lincoln viewed this nation as under the authority and accountability of God.  The nation agreed with him when he wrote that 150 years ago.  We were having a Civil War at that time - one half of Americans fighting the other half for states' rights but the sides weren't fighting about whether we were a nation under God.  Both sides believed that.

Oh, but that's all a product of the uninformed society of the 1800s.

OK.  Let's move to 1954.  Dwight Eisenhower is President of the United States.  Although the Pledge of Allegiance was written back in 1892, the two word phrase 'under God' was added in 1954 by Eisenhower.  Every time you recite it you're declaring that this nation views God as the leader of this country.

We have a national motto.  Did you know that?  It was instituted in 1956.  Do you know what it is?  Most people don't.

It isn't the bald eagle.
Or ... God bless the Stars & Stripes.
It isn't Oh Say Can You See ... or ... Semper Fi.

The National Motto of the United States is ... IN GOD WE TRUST.   It's been on our coins since the 1860s but in 1956 Congress decided it would be our official National Motto.  Congress decided that.

Think about that.  WE TRUST GOD is our National Motto.

I'm not sure what would happen in 2016 if, when school kicks back in this fall, every principal of every American school were to walk in and get on the school sound system and announce:  'OK kids, I just want to remind us all today that our National Motto is 'WE TRUST GOD.'  So don't forget that, kids.  TRUST GOD TODAY.'

My, my.  There would be lawsuits flying left and right.  People would be pulling their kids out of schools like crazy.

But wait.  It's the National Motto of the United States of America.  Congress.  1956.  The President.

And for what we have left of that national foundation, we are thankful.  Would you go to lengths to preserve it in your family, in your sphere of influence, in your personal walk with Christ?

And be blessed.