Saturday, August 18, 2007 "The Courage of the American Congress"

Saturday, August 18, 2007

"The Courage of the American Congress"

From Julie's Keyboard:

....that we love one another.

It's all about "love."
What is love? II John 1:6 gives us an answer.

"And this is love, that we walk afer His commandments, This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it."

It's always been about love and it still is. Nothing's changed. Love created us for fellowship with Himself. Love walked with us in the Garden. Love corrected us when we failed Him. Love redeemed us when it cost Him His very best. Love beckons to us daily for a higher way of living in this world. Love never leaves us or forsakes us. Love has all the time in the world for us. Yes, God is LOVE.

His Word declares that His love is shed abroad in our hearts. We have His love. Is it evident? Are we capable of showing this great love that reaches beyond all human error and fraility?

I Cor. 13 reveals to us the characteristics of this great thing called "love." The bottom line tells us that above everything that can possibly endure, "love" is the greatest. It will never fail.
Everything in this world that we can possibly think of (worldly speaking) that we could desire to have, has the potential to fail. It can be gone, taken, or destroyed.

But if we can really latch on to this concept of all that this "love" is and should be in our lives, just how bad can the weather be, or the stock market crash, or how many folks will we allow to really irritate us if God's love reigns supreme in our hearts?

It's all about "love." He told us so in the new commandments that He gave us.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." Luke 10:27

He said do this and we would live. Let's remember "love" the more excellent way.

Have a blessed week!
Julie

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"The Courage of the American Congress"

In 1694, the colony of Carolina printed “God preserve Carolina and the Lord’s Proprietors” on a one cent piece.

A New England token printed that same year bore the inscription “God preserve New England.”

Louisiana minted a coin in 1721 that carried the words “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
In 1849, Utah minted a coin that said “Holiness of the Lord” on it.

The words “In God We Trust” first appeared on American coins in 1864.

In 1861 Secretary of the Treasure Samuel Chase stated: “No nation can be strong except in the strength of God or safe except in His defense. The trust of our people in God should be declared on our national coins.”

In 1862, the Mint had designed a half dollar and half eagle with the inscription “God our Trust” on it. In 1863, a two cent piece had “God and our Country” engraved on it. In December of 1863 designs for one, two, and three cent pieces with “Our country; our God” and “God our trust” on them.

Congress authorized the addition of the motto on coins in March 1865 minting a three cent piece with “In God We Trust” on it.

After Roosevelt was elected President in 1904, he began a movement to remove the “In God We Trust” from our coins, believing they represented “irreverence which comes dangerously close to sacrilege.” He thought the inscription cheapened the sentiment as it would if used on an advertisement.

But Congressional leadership began to protest, a poem published in the New York Sun read:

In God We Trust
Upon Our Coins!
Oh, sacrilegious People!
God is not needed in this nation;
We have the great Administration;
And he’s enough for all creation
Our Teddy.

The committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures stated: “as a Christian nation” the motto should be restored as “evidence to all the nations of the world that the best and only reliance for the perpetuation of the republican institution is upon a Christian patriotism, which, recognizing the universal fatherhood of God, appeals to the universal brotherhood of man as the source of the authority and power of all just government.”

Rep. Charles C. Carlin said it provided a “lesson to the country and the world to the effect that this is a Christian nation, and that this body is composed of patriotic Americans who, regardless of party affiliations, fearlessly discharge a public duty when they are once convinced there is a duty to be discharged.”

Rep. James said that “In God We Trust” reflected the beliefs of the founders of our nation, and the fact that belief in a Supreme Being “is breathed in the Declaration of Independence, lives in the Constitution, hallows the oath we take at the bar of this House. It inspired our soldiers to fight at Bunker Hill, to suffer at Valley Forge, to triumph at Yorktown.”

Rep. Charles G. Edwards of Georgia stated: “The Methodist, the Episcopal, in fact all churches, all creeds, who have a belief in God, are as one in the opinion that it was a great mistake to ever have removed this motto from our coins and they are one in sentiment that this motto shall be restored.”
“A man who is not sound in his belief in God has no right in high office, which is the gift of a God fearing people.”

Legislation mandating the “In God We Trust” inscription on certain coins became law May 1908 with an overwhelming vote of 259 for, 5 against, and 4 answering “present.”

In 1955 Congress passed legislation requiring “In God We Trust” to placed on our paper currency as well as all American coins.

Rep. Charles Bennett stated: “nothing can be more certain than that our country was founded in a spiritual atmosphere and with a firm trust in God. These days when imperialistic and materialistic Communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continuously look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom. At the base of our freedom is our faith in God and the desire of Americans to live by His will and by His guidance. As long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail.”

In 1956 Congress passed legislation making “In God We Trust” our nation motto.

This inscription was placed on the walls of the Senate and House. In the Senate, mottos acknowledging God were carved in marble over three entrances.

President Eisenhower stated: “Without God, there could be no American form of Government, nor an American way of life.”

In 1962, the House of Representatives added “In God We Trust” above the chair of the Speaker of the House as an answer to the recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court banning prayer from New York schools. - - - - excerpted from “The Pledge” by William J. Murray.

{During the War of 1812, Commodore Thomas McDonough was in charge of an American naval fleet defending Lake Champlain in New York against the attacking British forces. A report of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives in 1854 tells the story of one memorable morning: September 11, 1814.

[J]ust as the sun rose over the eastern mountains, the American guard-boat on the watch was seen rowing swiftly into the harbor. It reported the enemy in sight. ... [Y]oung McDonough summoned his officers around him, and there, on the deck of the Saratoga, read the prayers of the ritual before entering into battle. . . . "Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us; for thou givest not always the battle to the strong, but canst save by many or by few." It was a solemn, thrilling sight, and one never before witnessed on a vessel-of-war cleared for action. . . . Of the deeds of daring done on that day of great achievements, none evinced so bold and firm a heart as this act of religious worship.

The battle that day near Plattsburgh, New York, would be one of the crucial and decisive battles of the war, preventing the British from entering and controlling northern New York.
When we were attacked 187 years later on Sept. 11, 2001, the president, Congress, and many in our land again turned to God in prayer.

Now six years later, on Sept. 11, 2007, we will witness another tragic offensive on our country when criminal trials will commence for three brave individuals charged with allegedly disrupting Congress. Their so-called "crime" was that they spoke in protest as the United States Senate recently opened with a Hindu ritual and prayer to an unknown god.

One of those individuals, Ante Pavkovic, audibly prayed on that occasion that the Lord would have "mercy on our nation." "We have no other gods before you," he continued, "You are the one true and living God." Ante's stepdaughter Christan also prayed, "Lord Jesus, forgive us for betraying you, the only one who can save us from our sins." Ante, his wife Katherine, and Christan were all arrested for simply demonstrating the courage and fortitude of Commodore McDonough and the men and women who gave birth to our nation.

Edmund Burke, a well-known British statesman and orator, once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

A number of good men and women serving as United States senators did nothing as Rajan Zed for the first time in our history sprinkled "holy water" from the Ganges River around the Senate rostrum and then uttered a Hindu prayer to an unknown god.

In fact, perhaps because of timidity or apathy, very few senators even bothered to attend, and none voiced an objection to this official government recognition of a false religion.} - - - - excerpted from Judge Roy Moore's weekly column, Our Moral Foundation, at WorldNetDaily.com.

A good friend of mine once asked me, “How can a good man do nothing, when he sees his neighbor’s wife being raped, his neighbor’s children being abused, his neighbor’s house being broken into?

Can good men really do nothing or does it speak of who we really are?

Where is the courage of our Congress that once stood in defense of our American way of life? Where are the good men who dare to stand and do something, who will stand for right whatever the cost?

God has given us the privilege of electing our leaders who server us in this great nation, let us choose them wisely, choose men of courage and men faith.

May God bless each of you,
David