Jul 26, 2010

One Nation Under God


I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.


Since I was a child I've recited the words "One nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And yet when I look at how we have turned away from God as a nation, I wonder how long we will continue to be "one nation under God" and not simply a nation gone under. When I consider court rulings which took prayer out of our schools, legalized abortion, forced courthouses to take down the posting of the ten commandments, attacked the sanctity of marriage--when I here of those who file lawsuits to take the words "In God We Trust" off our money, and "One Nation Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance-- I often wonder what it will take for christians to finally stand up and shout "Enough is enough! It's only because of the blessings of God that we became a nation in the first place. It's because of our biblical foundations and principles and the blood of our patriots that we became a great nation. And if we continue to push God out of our nation, He will one day completely remove His hand of blessing from us so that we decay into a nation gone under."


President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the words "under God" to be added the the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. These additional two words were in order to differentiate the United States from the officialy atheist Soviet Union. As the president authorized this change he stated:


"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."


In August of 1984 in Dallas, Texas, Ronald Reagan spoke at a prayer breakfast meeting and said the following:


"We establish no religion in this country, nor will we ever. We command no worship. We mandate no belief. But we poison our society when we remove its theological underpinnings. We court corruption when we leave it bereft of belief. All are free to believe or not believe; all are free to practice a faith or not. But those who believe must be free to speak of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public questions.


I submit to you that the tolerant society is open to and encouraging of all religions. And this does not weaken us; it strengthens us...


Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under."


So let's not forget Who is in charge. Let's not turn the U.S.A. into "One Nation under Government" or "One Nation Under Socialism" or "One Nation Under Me". Because if left up to our government or socialism or self, we're in loads of trouble. I'd rather be in the hands of God than those others any day. Pray, vote and stand up for our christian values so that we can remain One Nation Under God!


Singing His Praises,
Joey Culpepper

Jul 4, 2010

Lord, Heal Our Land


If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
(2 Chron. 7:14)(NKJV)



Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan both placed their hand on this verse as they took the presidential oath of office. I believe that if these men were still alive today they would still believe in the importance of this scripture. Like never before in our history, we need to pray for our nation. Our enemy is attacking us on all sides in this spiritual battle that's tearing at the Christian foundation of our nation. We need to pray for our nation and it's leaders. We need to pray for the Lord to send us Godly men and women who will run for office and then that we will vote them in so that they can make a difference in the direction our nation is headed. But notice, that it's not enough to just pray. God wants us to humble ourselves, pray and seek His face. He's calling us to turn from our wicked ways as a nation, and then He will forgive our sin and heal our land.

Today when I got back home from church, I read an email that was sent to me by my former pastor. I would like to share it with you now:

Some of you may be wondering what Judge Roy Moore has been doing since he was removed from the bench for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from his courtroom wall. Please read the poem he wrote. The following is a poem written by Judge Roy Moore from Alabama. Judge Moore was sued by the ACLU for displaying the Ten Commandments in his courtroom foyer. He has been stripped of his judgeship and now they are trying to strip his right to practice law in Alabama! The judge's poem sums it up quite well.

America the beautiful,
or so you used to be.
Land of the Pilgrims' pride;
I'm glad they'll never see.
Babies piled in dumpsters,
Abortion on demand,
Oh, sweet land of liberty;
your house is on the sand.
Our children wander aimlessly
poisoned by cocaine
choosing to indulge their list,
when God has said abstain.
From sea to shining sea,
our Nation turns away
From the teaching of God's love
and a need to always pray.
We've kept God in our temples,
how callous we have grown.
When earth is but His footstool,
and Heaven is His throne.
We've voted in a government
that's rotting at the core,
Appointing Godless Judges;
who throw reason out the door,
Too soft to place a killer
in a well deserved tomb,
But brave enough to kill a baby
before he leaves the womb.
You think that God's not angry,
that our land's a moral slum?
How much longer will He wait
before His judgment comes?
How are we to face our God,
from Whom we cannot hide?
What then is left for us to do,
but stem this evil tide?
If we who are His children,
will humbly turn and pray;
Seek His holy face
and mend our evil way:
Then God will hear from Heaven;
and forgive us of our sins,
He'll heal our sickly land
and those who live within.
But, America the Beautiful,
If you don't-then you will see,
A sad but Holy God
withdraw His hand from Thee.

I think Judge Roy Moore has the right idea for turning our nation around. So let's pray for our nation every day. But let's do more than that. We need to individually, and as a nation, humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from our sins. Then God will forgive us and heal our land, that America may remain Beautiful.

Singing His Praises,
Joey Culpepper

Psalm 122:1

I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." (HCSB)