LET FREEDOM RING

"Voice of Freedom" Echoes Across the Globe

January 30, 2005...this is a day almost as important as November3, 2004. For months we have heard the shrill cries of the Leftpundits, decrying the presence of American troops in Iraq, a country, as they said "never attacked us."

As a historical reminder, Germany never attacked us, and yet we still took Hitler down.The Third Reich never touched American soil, but yet we STILL took down der furher.

This is the link to the news report that I have posted here so that, as always, you can double-check me on the facts. Before reading, consider this: even under threat of violence and death, a higher percentage of Iraqis voted in their election than Americans voted in our election. There were not screams of voter disenfranchisement, racism or Diebolt vote-planting. These dear people risked life and limb to excerise their (that's right) God-given right to choose their government.

Yes, we had a historic turnout in our last national election, but the bottome line here is that apparently the Iraqi people love freedon even more than we do.

72 percent turnout!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145825,00.html
Sunday, January 30, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The polls in Iraq have closed, ending the country's first open elections in more than 50 years and setting a course for what U.S. officials hope will be a long democratic future.

All around the country, Iraqis defied threats of violence and cast their votes. An initial estimate of turnout from the Independent Electoral Commission indicated that 72 percent of eligible Iraqi voters had turned out to cast their ballots.

But the day was not without bloodshed. Eight homicide bombings and mortar strikes at polling stations killed at least 36 people. A Web site statement purportedly from insurgency leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the election-day attacks.

"What we're seeing here is the voice of freedom," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in the first response to the election from the Bush administration.

"Every indication is that the election in Iraq is going better than expected," Rice said on ABC's "This Week." "No, it's not a perfect election," Rice conceded, but she called it a positive development no one had foreseen three years ago when Saddam Hussein was still the dictator of Iraq.

Iraqi politicians also cast the elections as a huge success.

Casting his vote, Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi called it "the first time the Iraqis will determine their destiny."

"We have defeated the terrorists today," Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite who is running for the National Assembly on the United Iraqi Alliance list, told FOX News. "The winds of freedom are sweeping across Iraq."

After a slow start, men and women in flowing black abayas -- often holding babies -- formed long lines, although there were pockets of Iraq where the streets and polling stations were deserted. Iraqis prohibited from using private cars walked streets crowded in a few places nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with voters, hitched rides on military buses and trucks, and some even carried the elderly in their arms.

"This is democracy," said Karfia Abbasi, holding up a thumb stained with purple ink to prove she had voted.

Turnout was brisk in Shiite Muslim and mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods. Even in the small town of Askan in the so-called "triangle of death" south of Baghdad, 20 people waited in line at each of several polling centers. More walked toward the polls.

Rumors of impending violence were rife. When an unexplained boom sounded near one Baghdad voting station, some women put their hands to their mouths and whispered prayers. Others continued walking calmly to the voting stations.

Several shouted in unison: "We have no fear."
"Am I scared? Of course I'm not scared. This is my country," said 50-year-old Fathiya Mohammed, wearing a head-to-toe abaya.

At one polling place in Baghdad, soldiers and voters joined hands in a dance, and in Baqouba, voters jumped and clapped to celebrate the historic day. At another, an Iraqi policeman in a black ski mask tucked his assault rifle under one arm and took the hand of an elderly blind woman, guiding her to the polls.

In Ramadi, U.S. troops coaxed voters with loudspeakers, preaching the importance of every ballot.

The election is a major test of President Bush's goal of promoting democracy in the Middle East. If successful, it also could hasten the day when the United States brings home its 150,000 troops. More than 1,400 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, including a U.S. Marine killed in combat Sunday in Iraq's restive Anbar province. No details were released on the latest death.

Security was tight. About 300,000 Iraqi and American troops were on the streets and on standby to protect voters, who entered polling stations under loops of razor wire and the watchful eye of rooftop sharpshooters.

Private cars were mostly banned from the streets, forcing suicide bombers to strap explosives to their bodies and carry out attacks on foot.

The governor of the mostly Sunni province of Salaheddin, Hamad Hmoud Shagti, went on the radio to lobby for a higher turnout. "This is a chance for you as Iraqis to assure your and your children's future," he said.

Shiite Muslims, estimated at 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people, were expected to turn out in large numbers, encouraged by clerics who hope their community will gain power after generations of oppression by the Sunni minority.

A ticket endorsed by the country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is expected to fare best among the 111 candidate lists. However, no faction is expected to win an outright majority, meaning possibly weeks of political deal-making before a new prime minister is chosen.

The elections will also give Kurds a chance to gain more influence in Iraq after long years of marginalization under the Baath Party that ruled the country for 34 years.

"This proves that we are now free," said Akar Azad, 19, who came to the polls with his wife Serwin Suker and sister Bigat.

Iraqis in 14 nations also held the last of three days of overseas balloting on Sunday, with officials in Australia extending polling station hours because of an earlier riot and bomb scare. More than 70 of the 281,000 registered overseas voters had cast a ballot, according to Adel al-Lami of the Independent Electoral Commission. He offered no overall figures.

Speaking in Nigeria, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Sunday's balloting "the first step" toward democracy. "It's a beginning, not an end," he said.

Final results of the election will not be known for seven to 10 days, but a preliminary tally could come as early as late Sunday.

One U.S.-funded election observer said early reports pointed to smoother-than-expected voting, despite the violence.

"We're hearing there has been fairly robust turnout in certain areas," said Sam Patten, a member of the Baghdad team of the International Republican Institute.

The chief U.N. adviser to Iraq's election commission, Carlos Valenzuela, also said turnout seemed to be good in most places.

"These attacks have not stopped the operations," Valenzuela said.
Asked if reports of better-than-expected turnout in areas where Sunni and Shiite Muslims live together indicated that a Sunni cleric boycott effort had failed, one of the main groups pushing the boycott seemed to soften its stance.

"The association's call for a boycott of the election was not a fatwa [religious edict], but only a statement," said Association of Muslim Scholars spokesman Omar Ragheb. "It was never a question of something religiously prohibited or permitted."

In the most deadly attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a polling station in western Baghdad, killing himself, three policemen and a civilian, officials said. Witness Faleh Hussein said the bomber approached a line of voters and detonated an explosives belt.

In a second suicide attack at a polling station, a bomber blew up himself, one policeman and two Iraqi soldiers. In a third suicide attack at a school in western Baghdad, three people and the bomber died, police said.

And in a fourth, at another school in eastern Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed himself and at least three others. Another five people died in other suicide attacks.

Also, a suicide bomber blew himself up near the home of Iraq's justice minister in western Baghdad in an apparent assassination attempt. The minister was not home but the attack killed one person, an Interior Ministry official said.

The rest were killed in shootings and explosions in several communities north of Baghdad.
Overall, eight of the 36 people killed were suicide bombers.

In addition, three people were killed when mortars landed near a polling station in Sadr City, the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community. Two others died when a mortar round hit a home in Amel, and a policeman died in a mortar attack on a polling station in Khan al-Mahawil, south of Baghdad.

In Mosul, the province's deputy escaped an assassination attempt, but his bodyguard was killed.

The echoes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech are beginning to reverberate across the globe:

"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!" (http://www.mecca.org/~crights/dream.html)

OK, You've Got What You Wanted, Now Please Change the Subject

Here is an article from the New York Times (yes, I actually am posting a link from them).

Every time I hear the network news, everyone is griping about our "lack of an exit strategy from Iraq". Well, the best exit strategy is VICTORY, but if the new Iraqi government pulls "an Indonesia" on us and asks us to leave, Bush says he'll honor that.

OK...it's on record.....you have it in print....now please change the subject already!

Here's the link: The New York Times > Washington > Bush Says Iraqi Leaders Will Want U.S. Forces to Stay to Help

You Heard it Here...Second!

I was listening to some of the remarks by our new Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and thought that they were worth repeating here along with the prediction that by December 31, 2005, Senate Democrats will have called Rice back to the Hill to answer charges that the State Department is in shambles, the result of press leaks by disgruntled staffers.

Her remarks spell out, clearly and concisely, why Bush is doing what he is doing. It stands in sharp contrast to the myopia of liberals in America. Here it is:

"I'm going to look and the president is going to look, to this department to lead that effort, and not just to implement policy, but we're going to need ideas, intellectual capital. I need your ideas. My door will be open. Please, understand that this is a time when history is calling us, and I just look forward to working with each and every one of you toward that end. The president has laid out a bold agenda, and he expects a lot of us. I want you to know, too, that I'm going to be committed to you, the men and women of the Foreign Service, the civil service, and our Foreign Service nationals abroad, and you in turn will be committed, and we in turn will be committed to carrying out that bold agenda.

"I got to participate in Germany unification and the liberation of eastern Europe and the peaceful talks with the Soviet Union, but you know, I realize that I was just harvesting good decisions that had been made in 1946 and 1947 and 1948. A lot of those decisions spurred by good work done by this building, the men and women of the state department. And those were days when it must have seemed that freedom's march was not assured. You think about it, in 1947 civil wars in Greece and Turkey, and in 1948 the permanent division of Germany thanks to the Berlin crisis and in 1949 the Soviet Union explodes a nuclear weapon five years ahead of schedule and the Chinese communists win. It must not have looked like freedom's march was assured. But they somehow pulled themselves together, people like Truman and Atchison and Marshall and, of course, on Capitol Hill, Senator Vandenberg, and they created a policy and a set of institutions that gave us a lasting peace. While no one might have been able at that time to imagine a Democratic Germany or a Democratic Japan, when President Bush now sits across from chancellor Schroeder or from Prime Minister Koizumi he sits across not just from a friend but a Democratic friend.

"I know that there are those who wonder whether democracy can take hold in the rocky soil of the West Bank or in Iraq or in Afghanistan. I believe that we as Americans who know how hard the path to democracy is, have to believe that it can, and we have to make it so that we work with those who want to achieve those aspirations so that one day a future president is sitting across from the Democratic president or prime minister of many a Middle Eastern country, of many a country that has not yet known democracy. That's our charge; that's our calling."

Limbaugh may not be your favorite, but I have to agree with him on the following:

Just keep a sharp eye, because you're going to see these leaks and you're going to see these leaks resulting in newspaper stories, and it won't be long before the state department is out of control, she's gotta go, and she'll be called back to the hill for testimony on all this.
The New York Times, The Washington Post will run the story, and Biden and Leahy will say we can't put up with this; or Ted Kennedy, "We'll need to get to the bottom of this, find out what's going on. We've never had the state department in this bad of shape," and the word of journalists will suffice as an official report.

And that's the scheme. This is how the Democrats work: Lob charges, investigate the charges, and keep lobbing charges, investigating those charges, and just keep investigations going, and the whole purpose of the investigation is for the television pictures of the investigation, designed to make the American people think we got an incompetent bunch of boobs in this administration who don't know what they're doing.

Democrats are out there trying "to save the day."

Mark down this date on the calendar. All this and more is on tap for Condoleezza Rice easily within this year.

Wanted: New Captain for SInking Ship

George Will has an interesting piece on the race for DNC Chairmanship. One thing is for sure...this is one election that Democrats can't lose. Here's the link:

George Will - George F. Will: Who will lead the Democrats? - sacbee.com

Here's How Liberals Can Make a Difference

Here's a brilliant little post by blogger Second Lt. Lance Frizzell, a Tennessee National Guardsman serving in Iraq:

Back in January '03, you may remember a group of Western liberals who volunteered to go to Iraq as human shields in case the US enforced UN resolutions that Saddam violated.

". . . they are willing to put themselves in the firing line should US and British forces bomb Iraq. They plan to identify potential bombing targets such as power stations and bridges and act as human shields to protect them."

Well, I think I have just the job for these globe-travelers: Iraq Election Poll Worker. They are familiar with the terrain and people, they have a self-professed desire to help and they seem very articulate. However, their biggest asset is bravery. If they are willing to hunker down between Coalition Forces and a bridge, standing between a foreign terrorist and a polling precinct should be no big deal. Any takers?

Bush's 2nd Inaugural Address

Here is the text of President Bush's Second Inaugural Address. Soon I will post a response to this speech, a commentary of how we can answer this call to action.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

United States Capitol January 20, 2005
AS DELIVERED11:59 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT:

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, members of the United States Congress, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical -- and then there came a day of fire. We have seen our vulnerability -- and we have seen its deepest source.

For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny, prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder, violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this Earth has rights and dignity and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of heaven and Earth.

Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers.

Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time. So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling.

Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way. The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but, fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause. My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: the moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies. We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people.

America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies. Yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty. Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty -- though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals.

Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery.

Liberty will come to those who love it. Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world: All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you. Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are, the future leaders of your free country. The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it." The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: We honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies' defeat. Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens: From all of you I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet, because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.

And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire, as well -- a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress; and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world. Few Americans accepted the hardest duties in this cause -- in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy, the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments, the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives -- and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself -- and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home -- the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty. In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights.

And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance -- preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character -- on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before -- ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause? These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom.

We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes -- and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free. We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul.

When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" -- they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength -- tested, but not weary -- we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

The Letter to Adam

Both my Pastor, Bro. Jim Witherington and Robert's widow, Robin Pike, asked me to speak at my brother-in-law's funeral. This is the text of what I said:

If Robert had the chance to say something to his son, what would it be?

If he somehow knew that last Thursday was his last day with us, and he wrote a letter to his son, what would he have written?

As Robert's only brother in law, I held a sacred trust of loving, honoring, and protecting his only sister.

During the past five and a half years I have watched Robert go through the joys and trials of parenthood.

As the two of us grew into that role together, I was able to see almost instantly that within Robert Pike was the heartbeat of a father.

I say this because I had many conversations with Robert. In those conversations I could understand that his love for his son was clear as crystal, and many times more beautiful.

So it is in that spirit that I offer, as my tribute, this letter to Adam, from the heart of his father:

Dear Adam,

Even though I am not very good with words, I want you to know that you will always be the apple of my eye.

So many times I felt the pressure of this world like a ton of bricks.

There were times that I felt that life wasn't worth living.

And just when I felt like throwing in the towel, God would remind me of you, my dearest Adam.
The greatest joy of my life has been to watch you grow.

From the moment I first held you in my arms, I knew that I would move heaven and earth to provide for you.

There is really no way that I can measure my love for you, my son, because there is nothing to compare it to.

I can say this because the Source of this love is Jesus. And because He will always love me, I will always love you.

There is no force in the universe that can ever change that.

And now, my son, I have to say goodbye.

I don't exactly know why I have to leave, but I do know that God will fill in the blanks when the time is right.

Yes, I know that you won't see me for your birthday parties, the Christmas gatherings, your graduation.

But remember, even though you can't see me, I can see you. And your Grandpa will be standing right next to me.

Before I go, there's two things I need you to do for me:

-Always live for God

-Always take care of your mother

If you do these two things, you WILL see my face again.

I love you Adam Dalton.

Signed, Daddy

Godspeed, My Brother

Obituary: Robert Edward Pike

This past Thursday January 6, my brother-in-law, Robert Pike died of heart failure in his home in Millington, Tennessee. He was 32.

Robert had always been involved in youth work to some extent his entire life. At his church in Oklahoma, he was part of a large youth group and played an active role in witnessing and youth games and activities.

About two years ago, Robert came to me and told me of how he felt God wanted him to help with GTS. I found quickly that he was always ready to teach when I could not be there. He brought a unique perspective to table, and I was happy to have his input. He had a straight-forward style that some thought was abrasive at times. But soon they discovered that what he lacked in eloquence, he more than made up for in love.

He had a long battle with diabetes since his teenage years. The struggle seemed to define his life, because he refused to let it beat him spiritually. Even though it claimed his life in the end, his spirit and strength-of-will live on.

He is survived by his wife, Robin, and his five year old son, Adam Dalton Pike.
Funeral services were held at Bartlett Funeral Home at 1:00pm today.

Godspeed, my Brother.

America, Who is Your God?

This is the sermon I would have preached at East Acres Baptist Church on Sunday December 26, 2004. The weather took a turn for the worse, however, blanketing the Mid-South with several inches of ICE. Hence, church services across the area were cancelled...including ours.

AMERICA, WHO IS YOUR GOD?

(Psa 33:12 KJV) Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.
Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.
"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson.
"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence."
Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.
Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity.
Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania."
"He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination."

Those of you who heard about this news story were no doubt shocked that something like this could go on in America.

When I heard this story, it reminded me of what we did every morning at school in the fifth grade.
We actually started the day by saying the Pledge and Lord’s prayer.

That was going on in a PUBLIC SCHOOL.

And today a teacher is banned from using documents from the founding of our country just because they mention and make reference to God.

 We are living in a time of confusion and a time of misinformation.

 As a society we are at a crossroads. If you have been following the news, you have to be concerned about what is happening round you today in the United States of America.

 I am aware of how the Courts are now saying that young people cannot pray at football games,

For almost 30 years it has been legal to kill our children in the womb.

I’m sure that you‘ve heard the news reports of that woman who killed a pregnant lead and then cut the baby out of her womb and claimed it as her own.

If you read the newspapers and hear the story on TV, they refer to the child as a fetus, not a baby.

You know why, don’t you?

If they admit that its’ a baby, then they’re one step closer to admitting that abortion is wrong.

 What has caused us to slide down this path? We are confused about where and if God belongs in our nation. As time goes by, we are pushing God further and further out of our society.

All of these events lead me to ask an important question. It is a question that demands an answer…. And soon.
That question is this: AMERICA, WHO IS YOUR GOD?

When a nation that involved God in its founding makes clear and deliberate efforts to remove God from its culture, I think it is necessary for us to look back and see what the intention of our Founding Fathers were when they formed this great nation.

 What did our founding fathers fight and die for? What did they lay their lives on the line for? It is easy for us to look back on history and say that it was easy for these people to do what they did because we see that they won the war. But remember they took on the strongest nation in the world at the time, victory was not a sure thing.

 Is it important to see what our founding fathers believed and fought for? Yes it is. These men had a vision for the nation that they shed their blood for, it was a vision that was so strong, they were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice in the face of overwhelming odds to make it happen.

 Today I want to take just a few minutes for us to look at where the founding fathers believed that God belonged in our heritage, our Government and in our educational system.

And when you compare it to what is going on today, I believe it will again bring us back to our original question; AMERICA, WHO IS YOUR GOD?

When America was founded:
I. GOD WAS IN OUR HERITAGEThere is much confusion over our nations heritage. There is much confusion over the beliefs of the founding fathers.

Today it is popular for uninformed people to say that the founders were not Christians.

Did you know that the first act of the United States Congress was to authorize the printing of 20,000 Bibles for the Indians?

On January 21, 1781, Philadelphia printer Robert Aitken petitioned Congress to officially sanction a publication of the Old and New Testament which he was preparing at his own expense.

Congress "highly approve(s) the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken, as subservient to the interest of religion . . . in this country, and . . . they recommend this edition of the bible to the inhabitants of the United States."

This resolution was a result of Aitken's successful accomplishment of his project. Aitken's Bible, published under Congressional patronage, was the first English language Bible published on the North American continent.

When our first President, under the new Constitution, received the request of both Houses of Congress concerning a national declaration of a public day of Thanksgiving and Prayer, ’George Washington...issued a National Thanksgiving Proclamation’ without any apparent concern that he might be mixing government and religion.

The men who founded our country clearly wedded it to Christian principles. "By today’s standards," as syndicated columnist Don Feder says, "the founding fathers were the religious right."

In March of 1798, President John Adams declared May 9th of that year to be a "day of solemn humiliation, fasting and prayer."

He is also quoted as saying, " The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God."

Benjamin Franklin in a speech to the Constitutional Convention said "In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?"

There are so many things that we no longer hear today. For example, we are now told that our Founding Fathers were atheists, agnostics, and deists.
However, 52 of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the constitution were members of orthodox churches.

In 1779 after the First Amendment (The Establishment clause) was written, the Supreme Court stated the following:

 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

 By our form the Christian religion is the established religion; and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed on the same equal footing.

(Congress prohibited itself from establishing a religion partly because ONE HAD ALREADY BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THIS COUNTRY PRIOR TO THE WRITING OF THE CONSTITUTION)

If you doubt the veracity of that claim, consider this statement by Patrick Henry in May of 1765 in a speech to the House of Burgesses: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"

When America was founded, GOD WAS IN OUR HERITAGE.

When America was founded,II. GOD WAS IN OUR GOVERNMENT

Does God have a place in our government? If you listen to people today they will tell you no. Let’s briefly look at a couple of statements from our founders pertaining to God in Government.

In a 10-year study the Political Science Professors at the University of Houston researched over 15,000 writing of the founders:

They isolated 3154 direct quotes in these writings, of these direct quotes,

34% of these come directly from the Bible,

Another 60% were quotes from people like John Locke and Sir William Blackstone, who directly quoted the Bible.

Over 94% of the quotes found in the writings of the founders came from the Bible.

James Madison, the "Chief Architect of the Constitution" said this in reference to the 10 commandments:"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves.. according to the Ten Commandments of God.."

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison proposed the plan to divide the central government into three branches. He discovered this model of government from the Perfect Governor, as he read Isaiah 33:22; "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; He will save us."

President John Quincy Adams said:

 The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code... laws essential to the existence of men in society and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws."

In 1811 The Supreme Court stated: Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government

And this ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1892: "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian."

When America was founded, GOD WAS IN OUR GOVERNMENT

When America was founded,III. GOD WAS IN OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

1. Does God belong in the school? It does not seem so today.2. Let us look at the New England Primer that was the standard textbook in schools for over 200 years beginning in Boston in 1690.

The New England Primer followed a tradition of combining the study of the alphabet with Bible reading. It introduced each alphabet letter in a religious phrase and then illustrated the phrase with a woodcut. The primer also contained a catechism of religious questions and answers. Emphasis was placed on fear of sin, God's punishment and the fact that all people would have to face death.

Our educational institutions were founded with God as the center.
Look at these statements of philosophy of our major colleges in the United States. Yale- Seeing God is the giver of all wisdom, every scholar, besides private or secret prayer... shall be present morning and evening at public prayer

 Princeton- Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.

 Harvard- "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus which is eternal life. John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning."
"Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein."

Each of the original state constitutions mandated that Christian teachings would be included in a child’s education

November 1, 1802 The Ohio State constitution said:

 Religion, morality, and knowledge, being essentially necessary to the good government, and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision.

A few years ago, three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled as unconstitutional Ohio’s 41-year-old state motto, "With God, All Things Are Possible." The panel said the motto was a government endorsement of Christianity because it quotes Jesus addressing his disciples in Matthew 19:26.

106 of the first 108 colleges formed in America and 123 of the first 126 were formed on Christian principles

By 1900 it was extremely rare to find a university president who was not an ordained clergyman.

When America was founded, GOD WAS IN OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Let me close with this:
The Episcopal Church has debated the "normalization" of homosexual practices, same-sex marriage and the ordination (as ministers) of practicing homosexuals, for two decades.
At its 74th triennial General Convention in August of 2003, the Episcopal House of Bishops voted, by a two-thirds majority, to confirm an unrepentant homosexual as Bishop of the New Hampshire Diocese.

ECUSA Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has defended the election, proclaiming that the Bible does not condemn homosexual acts. "Discreet acts of homosexuality" were condemned only because they involved lust instead of the "love, forgiveness and grace" of homosexual relationships, argues Griswold. "Homosexuality, as we understand it as an orientation, is not mentioned in the Bible. I think the confirmation of the bishop of New Hampshire is acknowledging what is already a reality in the life of the church and the larger society of which we are a part."

Griswold said further, "If I believed in any part of my being that the consent to this election was unfaithful to an authentic way of reading scripture and contrary to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I could no longer serve as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church."
Mr. Griswold, it’s time for you to hang up your robe and go home, because it is obvious that you have not read the Bible.

(Rom 1:27 KJV) And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet (necessary).

For a church in America to even come close to going down this road lets me know that America has truly lost its moral compass.
America, who is your God?

One of the great themes of the Bible is the fact that when God is involved in the founding of a nation, He blesses that nation. When that nation turns its back on God, judgement will follow.
When the nation of Israel turned its back on God, God turned His back on them, and Israel was overrun by the Babylonians and the Assyrians.

Since God was involved in the founding of this nation, how far away can WE be from suffering a similar fate?

It has become painfully obvious that the America I grew up is not the same America that I am trying to raise my children in.

I believe that it is up to us Christians to work to get America back on track.

The founding Fathers who gave us this great nation made it clear. Jesus belongs front and center in our society. Don’t be fooled by the so-called enlightened people. The founders knew that when you take God out of something, that something will fail.

The cure for what ails America is laid out clearly and concisely for us in the Bible:

(2 Chr 7:14 KJV) If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.

America is more than the soil under our feet. YOU are America.
America, who is your God?