| Have you given thought to what our country means to us. Listen as your country speaks to you. "I am the United States of America. My birth certificate is dated July 4, 1776. I was conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal in the sight of God. I am the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I am freedom for all men. The blood of the world runs in my veins. I am over 200 million living people, and the voice of other millions who have courageously died for the freedom for which I stand and which I still make possible. I am a fabulous country of many things and many people. I am the orange groves of Florida, the wheat fields of Kansas, the coal mines of Pennsylvania, the oil fields of Texas, the dairy-lands of Minnesota, the rolling hills and fertile fields of Arkansas. I am Coney Island, Atlantic City, Wall Street, Hollywood and Disney World. I am the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I am the badlands of Dakota, the bluegrass of Kentucky and the redwoods of California. I am Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and the Golden Gate Bridge. I am sleepy, rustic villages and surging, roaring cities, verdant valleys and fruitful plains, magnificent mountains, sandy beaches, and dry dusty deserts. I am 3 million square miles, 5 million farms, 10 million small businesses. I am 200,000 schools and colleges, and 300,000 churches. I am a letter to a senator, a ballot in an election, the roar of a crowd in the stadium, the whimper of a baby in a crib. I am Billy Graham in Madison Square Garden, a minister in a small country church, the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am Paul Revere's, "The British are coming!" I am Patrick Henry's, "Give me liberty or give me death!" I am William Jennings Bryan's, "You shall not crucify mankind on a cross of gold!" I am Franklin Roosevelt's, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself!" I am John Kennedy's, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!" I am Washington in prayer at Valley Forge, Lincoln in sorrow at Gettysburg, Lee in defeat at Appomattox, George Custer in death at the Little Big Horn, and Douglas MacArthur returning to Manila. I am Bunker Hill and the Alamo, the Monitor and the Merrimac, the Jeep, the Sherman tank, the Red Cross and the U.S.0. I am Betsy Ross and her needle, Babe Ruth and his bat, Will Rogers and his humor, Kate Smith and her "God Bless America." I am the defender of freedom. In answer to its call, I have left my heroic dead in Flanders Field and Anzio Beach, at Pearl Harbor and Corregidor, on Guadalcanal and Okinawa, in Korea, Vietnam, and in Desert Storm. I am the citadel of freedom, and freedom is my breath and my blood. Without it, I would die! May I always possess the integrity, courage and strength to keep myself unshackled, and to remain a beacon of hope to all men everywhere. I am the American flag... 13 stripes to remind all of my humble beginnings, and 50 white stars on a field of blue, speaking eloquently of individual liberty and national sovereignty, as captured in those immortal words of Lincoln, "The Union... at any price!" If you have ever known the sensation of seeing me unfurled over a stronghold of evil, stormed in the cause of right, or waving proudly in the breeze in a foreign land to the exciting sound of "Retreat" or "Taps," then you know why men are willing to follow me and to die -- for the preservation of the American Dream of a free government of the people, by the people, and for the people," That was our country speaking. Does your heart beat with pride at those words, "My Country?" It should! It is only by the grace of God that we were born here and not in some oppressed country. It is our country "under God." What wonderful words! Those words set the pulse pounding, the blood racing, and the heart thumping! Those words stir the mind, swell the heart, thrill the soul! If we would let those words burn themselves into our hearts and minds, it would make a real difference to our country. Those words can span the generation gap, the credibility gap, and the communication gap. Those words can bring healing and harmony between Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, business and labor, blacks and whites, and with people of all races. Those words could end the public insults, which some of our highest elected officials have hurled at each other... insults which have been a source of disappointment and apprehension to those who look to America as the only place in the world where freemen stand firmly together, and where personal differences are sublimated in the love of God and country. "My country... under God!" What does that mean? It means that we have this land, this flag, this government as a gift from the Great God Almighty. It means that this country did not become "the land of the free and the home of the brave" by blind fate or a happy set of coincidences, but that a wise and benevolent God was hovering over us from the very hour of conception... and long before. When Columbus
discovered this land, he took a cross in his own hands, planted it upon the new soil, fell
upon his knees, and kissing the earth, took possession of this continent for God. We can truly sing, "America, America, God shed His grace on thee!" So say it with pride... "I am born free, as free as the wind blows" , and then add the prayer: "Long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light: protect us by Thy might, great God, our King!" Today, America faces a danger point. That danger point lies in the loss of much of the pristine purity, rugged honesty, stern simplicity, militant courage, and Christian ideals that have made our country great. We must confess with troubled heart that America has forgotten God. She is rolling in luxuries, reveling in excesses, rollicking in pleasure, reeling in drunkenness, revolting in morals, and rotting in sin. What can we expect of a society in which passions are riderless horses; in which there is a desolation of decency; in which love has become a jungle emotion, lust is exalted to lordship, sin elevated to sovereignty, hell substituted for heaven, Satan worshipped as a saint, and man magnified above his Maker? One cannot keep from asking the question: "Where is America headed?" Will the great American Dream become a nightmare? Are we witnessing the decline and fall of the American Empire? God forbid! All America recognizes the dilemma and is desperately seeking a way out. It is sheer folly to suppose that the strength and security of America lies in its vast economic resources... industrial prowess... scientific ingenuity -- diplomatic skill or military might. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Our real defense as a nation rests in the spiritual convictions, character and commitment of our citizens. David discovered that fact and declared: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." Many years ago, a noted Frenchman came to America to search for the secret of her greatness. "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." What a discerning statement! America may never have been that good, but the observation is certainly true. " Pericles built a civilization upon culture, and it failed. Caesar built a civilization upon power, and it failed. Our forefathers founded this nation upon the Christian faith, and it will live so long as the Lord is our God. The Pilgrim Fathers left a land where they were persecuted to find a land where every man, through countless ages, would have the right to worship God in his own way. When the strong and stalwart champions of a new order landed at Plymouth Rock, they knelt upon the shore and dedicated this country to God. In the early colonies the first public building to be erected was a church house, and the first public exercise was the worship of God. When the Constitutional Convention met at Philadelphia to organize the nation and write a constitution, Benjamin Franklin called on the members of the Convention to fall upon their knees and pray for divine wisdom. When George Washington was inaugurated as our first President, he held the Bible in his hands, pressed his lips to it, then turned his face toward heaven and said, "I swear, so help me God." Each of the coins in our pockets bear the inscription, "In God we trust." The same principle of dependence upon God is embodied in our National Anthem: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth." "Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee." To whom am I speaking? I am talking to myself and to every individual citizen. I am thinking in terms of the nation, but the nation means you and me. We must remember that America is no stronger than you are strong! America is no purer than you are pure! America is no more godly than you are godly! The unyielding truth of history is that God blesses the nation that blesses Him. But we are not without hope. God says to America: "Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." We must return to the faith of our Fathers. We must get on our knees in humility and prayer, in contrition and confession, in repentance and the forsaking of sin. We must go back to the cross, where the incarnate Son of God was cursed, condemned, and crucified for our sins. The crisis is acute! The danger is imminent! Time is running out. Something miraculous must happen in the heart and soul of America... now, before it is too late. America must get right with God. The nation that was born in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, must be born again. The choice is clear. . It is Christ or chaos. America -- which way?
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