It seems like an eternity has passed since the day that congress was on the steps of the White House singing "God Bless America."  Really?  Was that sincere?  Should we expect any blessings from God?  We are quick in asking for the favor of Almighty God, but slow in showing our gratitude.  We ask for Him to bless us with health, wealth and defense of our country, but ignore even the most basic of truths that He has revealed.

No doubt about it.  We are the most powerful, wealthiest country in the world and we have more opportunity to bless God and others with what we have received.  To say that our founding fathers were secularists is to completely ignore their writings and deliberations.  If you read just the deliberations that were had during the framing of the US constitution, you will see that they were very afraid of not protecting the freedom OF religion, not the freedom FROM religion.  You can see arguments in the Federalist Papers for a constitutional recognition of this freedom.  You can also see in the Anti-Federalist Papers arguments opposing the same.  The Anti-Federalists were afraid that this would lead to government interference into the matters of religion.  Their fears are even now being realized.  I came to this knowledge through the reading of the aforementioned papers myself as a suggestion by our pastor just this past Sunday morning in worship service.  I give him credit for enlightening me to these facts.  (Ronnie Rogers)

Once the public schools belonged to the people.  They are now state-run institutions with government approved curriculum.  Teachers are indoctrinated to believe that they are the primary educator and influence of our children.  This does not relieve the parent of the God-given responsibility to be the primary educator of their kids.  The school should be seen as the secondary educator and should compliment what the child is learning at home, not be diametrically opposed to it.

We believe ourselves to be a sovereign nation, but we have ignored the sovereign God who delivered the pilgrims from the tyranny of England.  They came here with a dream to worship God as they pleased and to not be oppressed by the Church of England.  Worship God, not allah or bhudda or any of seven million Hindu gods.  Ronald Reagan said, "When we are a not a nation under God, we will be a nation gone under."

This Independence Day let's examine the Declaration of Independence.  Let's realize that the authors of this great American document included the author of our rights.  "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." (emphasis mine)  They understood and believed that we were created in the image of God and that from this we are special.  This is why murder is against the law.  This is why it is wrong to abort our unborn children.  It was self-evident to our founders it has been clouded by the elite of our day.  Let this be our Independence Day.  We have recently seen that this is still a government "For the people" in the defeat of the immigration bill that would have granted amnesty to so many illegal aliens.  While there are men fighting for us in foreign countries and abroad we need to continue to fight here at home so that they have an America to come home to and one that is worth fighting for.