The Turning Tide
Tuesday. November 6th. Election Day across this nation founded on Judeo-Christian values over 200 years ago. I voted this morning hoping the lines wouldn't be terribly long and was able to cast my vote easily. Of course, many states are not just casting ballots for a new President/Commander-in-Chief or even U.S. Senator or Representatives. In my area we are voting for U.S. District Court of Appeals Judge as well as amendments to our state constitution. Matter of fact, we had 8 amendments to vote on today. Whew!
Reader, wherever you are, I do hope that you have voted or are going to vote. Americans have a duty to vote officials into a position of leadership. If we don't, then our country does suffer greatly. Who to vote for? I asked the same question of myself many times in past elections. This one was easy for me - because I vote according to my moral values and generally vote for the candidate who best lines up to those values as well. What are my values? They are the same values that were around over 2000 years ago. They were created when the Earth was created by God. I vote according to biblical values and principles. It's the only way to vote in my opinion.
This isn't about preaching at you - I do realize that I have some followers who do not have a relationship with Christ Jesus. However, I do believe that God created all things and that His instruction to us is the inspired words found in the Bible. It doesn't matter who the man or woman is that sits in the Oval Office or in Congress - what matters to me is Who is over those offices. Our great country was, as I stated before, founded on Judeo-Christian values and you can see evidence of that in our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It is scattered all throughout writings by our founders. It is all over the place and is the reason why so many men and women continue to give their lives for this country of ours. A vote in an election, for many of us, is the least we owe as our part for this great land of ours.
I realize I am in the minority when it comes to many things. [Hello....may be blonde, but I wasn't born yesterday!] However, isn't that feeling of being in the minority something each of us have felt at one time or another? The neat thing is the minority has a cool way of being the majority - perhaps not in number, but in mindset. You see, many of us - if we took inventory of ourselves - would agree with the moral values that I mentioned earlier. The issue is that we choose to stay silent. We must not stay silent any longer. There are times when we must be vocal and stand for what we believe in. Will it be accepted by everyone? Heck no. Just as I can't support views of those that propose unions other than one man, one woman in a marriage - there are those that demand I do. Just as I can't support the murder of an innocent child in a womb - there are those that demand I do. What is more, they demand that I force their positions onto my child - and to the trash heap with my values! Yes, I may be in the minority when you look at numbers on paper, but in truth I am in the majority when we all take a few moments to inventory ourselves and our real feelings on such matters. Okay - that is about as political as I intend to get on this post.
I am closing with some BIBLICAL references and a few quotes I found that will support how I voted today and will continue to do so until THAT GREAT DAY Christ Jesus returns:
"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency...We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained." -- George Washington in his Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789
"Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the council of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States.." "...Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency" From President George Washington's Inaugural Address, April 30th, 1789, addressed to both Houses of Congress.
"And now, Almighty Father, if it is Thy holy will that we shall we shall obtain a place and name among the nations of the Earth...:grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for Thy goodness by endeavors to fear and obey Thee." George Washington
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports . . . And let us indulge with caution the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion . . . Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle." From President George Washington's Farewell Address
"While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."
George Washington--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.
"The highest glory of the American Revolution
was this: 'It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil
government with the principles of Christianity." President Adams, July 4, 1821
"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the
Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by
the precepts there contained! Every member would be obliged in conscience to
temperance, frugality and industry: to justice, kindness and charity towards
his fellow men: and to piety, love and reverence toward Almighty God....What a
Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be." John Adams diary entry Feb. 22.,
1756.
John Adams and John Hancock: "We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! " April 18, 1775
"A patriot without religion, in my estimation, is as great a paradox as an honest man without the fear of God. Is it possible that he whom no moral obligations bind, can have any real Good Will towards Men? Can he be a patriot who, by an openly vicious conduct, is undermining the very bonds of Society? ...The Scriptures tell us righteousness exalteth a Nation." Abigal Adams, wife of President John Adams in letter to husband John Adams 1776.
"...a true American Patriot must be a religious man...He who neglects his duty to his maker, may well be expected to be deficient and insincere in his duty towards the public." Abigal Adams, wife of President John Adams in letter to husband John Adams 1776.
"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Trust in Him at all times, ye people, pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us." Abigal Adams, wife of President John Adams in letter to husband John Adams 1776.
"The second day of
July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am
apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the
great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of
Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be
solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires
and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time
forward forever."
--Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.
--Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.
"God who gave us life gave us
liberty. And can the
liberties of a nation be
thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction
in the minds of the people that these
liberties are of the
Gift of God?
That
they are not to be violated but
with His wrath?
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just;
that
His justice cannot
sleep forever; That a revolution of the
wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become
probable
by Supernatural
influence! The Almighty
has
no attribute which can take side
with us in that event." President Thomas Jefferson --Notes on the State of Virginia, Query
XVIII, p. 237.
"Of all systems of morality, ancient of modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to be so pure as that of Jesus." Thomas Jefferson To William Canby, 1813
"I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man..." President Thomas Jefferson
“I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands... the Bible makes the best people in the world." President Thomas Jefferson
"My views- - - are the result of a lifetime of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference of all others—" Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush On April 21, 1803
"God who gave us life, gave us liberty." Thomas Jefferson
"I am a real Christian, that is to say, a cisciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator." Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his Bible.
“Well aware… that Almighty God hath created the mind free… all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments… tend only to begat… hypocrisy… and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of religion, who being Lord both of body and mind… chose not to propagate it by coercions… as was in his Almighty power to do, but to extend it by… reason alone " Thomas Jefferson's tombstone
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.” [Baron Charles Montesquieu, wrote in 1748;
“Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative
power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to
legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be
arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislature if it were joined to the
executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be
lost if the same … body of principal men … exercised these three powers."
Madison claimed Isaiah
33:22 as the source of
division of power in government See also: pp.241-242 in Teaching and Learning
America’s Christian History: The Principle approach by Rosalie Slater]
"Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ." James Madison - America's Providential History p. 93.
"When we view the blessings with which our country has been
favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing
them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly
drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful
acknowledgments for these blessings to the Divine Author of All
Good." -Monroe made this statement in his 2nd Annual Message to Congress, November
16, 1818.
"My custom is to read four or five chapters of the Bible every morning immediately after rising... It seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day... It is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue." President John Quincy Adams
"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this; it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." - John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821
"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isaiah 52:10)."
--Life of John Quincy Adams, p. 248.
"The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests." President Andrew Jackson
"With malice toward
none; charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's
wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and
his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all nations." - Immediately afterwards, Lincoln
kissed the Bible, bowed, and retired from the platform. Abraham Lincoln's 2nd
inaugural address, March 4th, 1865.
“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; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and
our institutions are emphatically Christian…This is a Christian nation”
- United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892
- United States Supreme Court Decision in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892
“He removes kings and
sets up kings.” (Daniel 2:21)
"...our citizenship
is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will
transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." -
Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)
"I have said these
things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." - John 16:33 (ESV)
O LORD,
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, high and mighty King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who dost
from Thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest with power
supreme and uncontrolled over all the kingdoms, empires and governments; look
down in mercy we beseech Thee, on these American States, who have fled to Thee
from the rod of the oppressor, and thrown themselves on Thy gracious
protection, desiring henceforth to be dependent only on Thee; to Thee they have
appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for
that countenance and support which Thou alone canst give; take them, therefore,
Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in council and
valor in the field; defeat the malicious design of our cruel adversaries;
convince them of the unrighteousness of their cause; and if they persist in
their sanguinary purpose, O let the voice of Thy own unerring justice, sounding
in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved
hands in the day of battle! Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the
counsels of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best
and surest foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that
order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice,
religion and piety prevail and flourish among Thy people. Preserve the health
of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them, and the millions
they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them
in this world, and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All
this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our
Savior. Amen.
- First Prayer in Congress September 7, 1774, Jacob Duche,
Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia
May God have mercy on us all ~
Be blessed and be a blessing....
W
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