Something to Think About

As we go to the polls this week here are a few quotes from our founding fathers about the role God, and His principles, should play in our government.

*Our first president, George Washington, took the oath of office and put his hand on what? (The Bible)

*What was his first official act as President? (Kissed the Bible, then held a 2 hr. praise/worship session in Congress)

*How did they determine to open sessions of Congress? (Prayer)

*Who would lead in those prayers? (Chaplains)

*How would they be paid? (Tax dollars)

Does all of that sound like they wanted to keep God out of government?

By the way, opening in prayer is a mystery to investigate…why is it that the little boys and girls cannot, but the big Congressmen can?

*In 1776, 11 of the 13 colonies required that one had to be a Christian to be eligible to run for political office.

*In 1777, the Continental Congress voted to spend $300,000 to purchase Bibles for distribution in the nation.

*The Gettysburg Address states “…this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…”

*94% OF THE WRITINGS OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE U.S. CONTAINED QUOTATIONS FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

*THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS OF ALL 50 STATES MENTION GOD.

*On that First “Thanksgiving”, who do you think the people were giving thanks to? To God!

*The famous “Liberty Bell” has part of Leviticus 25:10 inscribed on it: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

*Part of the Scripture Proverbs 14:34 is inscribed above the L.A. city hall door: “RIGHTEOUSNESS EXALTETH A NATION: BUT SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE.”

*An image of Moses carrying the tablets of God’s Law faces the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

*The entering President takes his courtroom OATH OF OFFICE with his right hand on the Holy Bible, and concludes his vow “So help me God.”

*First Vice President and Second President, John Adams wrote in 1798:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

* President Thomas Jefferson:
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” – 1781

*Our sixth President, John Quincy Adams said:
“No book in the world deserves to be so unceasingly studied, and so profoundly meditated upon as the Bible.”

*At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Benjamin Franklin said,
“God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”

“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven… But 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.” – 1863

*Theodore Roosevelt, America’s 26th President, wrote:
“In this actual world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at, or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down-grade.” – 1917

*Woodrow Wilson, our 28th President and Governor of New Jersey, said this:
“America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of the Holy Scripture.” – 1911

*Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President, said this about our founding fathers:
“They were intent upon establishing a Christian commonwealth in accordance with the principle of self- government. They were an inspired body of men. It has been said that God sifted the nations that He might send choice grain into the wilderness… Who can fail to see it in the hand of destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine Providence.” – 1923

*Harry Truman, our 33rd President, not known to be a committed believer, understood the spiritual heritage of this nation:
“If men and nations would but live by the precepts of the ancient prophets and the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, problems which now seem so difficult would soon disappear”

*Gerald Ford, our 38th President, quoted a 1955 speech by Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 5, 1974:
“Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first – the most basic – expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.”

And so, as we look today at our civic responsibility, the question is not, should a Christian be involved in gov’t…the question is: Can you be the Christian you are commanded to be and not be involved?

From Romans 13:1-7

5 things every Christian must do for their government:

1. We must participate in paying for government

2. We need to pray for our government

1 Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

4. Participate in government

It is our Christian duty to get informed, and vote!